Road Trip of the Heart
by ultima-owner
Summary: A unforgettable journey of crazy times, at least for the person doing it. It's a SIOC fic so if you don't like those, please don't flame.
1. Ride On Shooting Star

**Hello! After reading the many SIOC fics out there, I decided to join the bandwagon and try my hand at it. This will be a Kingdom Hearts one but he will not be traveling with the gang. They will cross paths but that's it. He may visit world not in the games. As for his weapon of choice and mode of transportation, it's from FLCL, an amazing anime with a third season airing in September. Check it out if you want. Let's get started.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything save my Ocs.**

 **Road Trip of The Heart**

 **Chapter one: Riding On Shooting Star**

New York City, Earth

"Just perfect!" Zane cursed before yowling in pain. The source of his pain was his busted up Moped that he kicked without thinking. He glared at it as if it was the one that hit his foot. Sighing he sat and inspected it to see if it was fixable.

Behind him he heard a bell tingle as a door opened. He paid it no mind. He jumped when a voice spoke next to him. "Kid. It's totaled." Zane looked at the person who spoke and it was an old man in his fifties. He was bald and his short beard was grayed with age. His silvery eyes gleamed as if he found something he was looking for.

He was wearing black jeans and a denim jacket. He offered a hand that Zane took. "Tell you what. I'll trade you for a new ride. What do you say?" He said as Zane processed what he just said. "what?" the old man lead him into the shop at the corner.

The walls were lined with guitars. And there was ranks of jackets. On the shelves were boxes of parts. It was an odd collection of things to sell but Zane had seen weirder places. "Wait here. I need to find the item you'll be getting in the trade." The old man said and entered the back of the store.

Zane looked around and after a few minutes he saw it. In a display case was a guitar he'd never expected to see in person. It was a cherry red electric bass guitar. "Oh you found that?" The old man asks as he walked up to him. Turning Zane asked with sprinkling eyes "Is that a Gibson EB-0 1961 model?" The old man laughed "Got it in one. Got this years ago." He had a far off look in his eyes.

He looked Zane up and down. "I'll cut you a deal. Along with the trade in and give you the EB-0 and new outfit and a new moped for four grand." He said. Zane looked at his clothing. They were patched and he had six grand he was planing to use to fix his ride. "deal." They shake on it.

An hour later.

Zane admired his new clothes. White leather riding pants, a red leather jacket with a flame guitar on the back of it. He even got some nice boots. The riding gloves fit perfectly. It complimented his messy black hair and dark brown eyes.

The old man guided him to the back room, which was filled with motorcycles and mopeds. He was lead to the back were a yellow Vespa SS 180 sat. "here's you're new ride. Catch!" the old man throws Zane a helmet and goggles. Zane grins and puts them on. "Thanks!" Zane slung the guitar on his back walked his new moped out the back not noticing that the old man was laughing to himself. "He will have an interesting time."

Three hours later

open road, Earth

"YEAH!" Zane cried as he zoomed down the empty road without a care. Grinning he said "Let's she how fast you can go." He up the speed and then he was gone.

Between Worlds

Zane looked around him bewilderingly as he was in space? One minute he was on earth next he's blasting through a void of stars and and Aurora Borealis. Panicking he steered best he could as lasers and missiles were shot from ships. To make matters worse there was meteors and other space junk here too.

He was relieved when he saw a planet. That's is until he realized he wasn't slowing down. "AHHH!" He screamed as he entered the world.

Hollow Bastion

Sora looked up to cloaked figures that he knew to be Organization XIII. He readied his weapon. "Organization XIII" Goofy states. Donald was looking wide eyed at what was happening behind them. A screaming shooting star was hurtling at them. Donald grabs Sora and Goofy and gets to cover as the Nobodies are ran over by the screaming star which crashed into the town.

The Nobodies quickly escape via corridor of darkness as Sora peeks out to see if it's safe. Seeing was, they wondered what just happened.

The World That Never Was

The place where Nothing Gathers

The Nobodies seated in there raise seats looking more annoyed than hurt debate on what happened. "That was not according to the plan." Xgibar say removing his hood to show his pony tail was burnt off. "Oh you got lucky! I lost my cloak!" Demyx whined as he put on a new black cloak. "Enough!" Saix barked.

"It is an unexpected setback but a small one." Xemnas said with a burnt tire tracks going up the back of his cloak from the bottom to the top of the hood. Yes the shooting star left tire tracks. "For now continue with the plan." He says as they port out of the room.

 **Author's Note: That's the first chapter. Yes Zane ran over Xemnas and stoles a cloak from Demyx. It's safe to say they will not like him. Next chapter we get to see how well he landed. See you next time!**


	2. Hybrid Rainbow

**Welcome! Time for the next chapter. Before I get to the chapter I'd like to clarify that some thing. As FF fans know, Cid is in every FF game. The one in KH is from FFVII. I that game he uses a spear as a weapon. Why is this reverent? Because Cid will be more than just the tech wizard he is in the KH games. He will fighting.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs, nothing else.**

 **Chapter 2: Hybrid Rainbow**

Hollow Bastion market area

Cid, Leon and Scrooge McDuck surveyed the crash site critically with weapons ready. There was a long trench that started at the stairs to the housing area and ended at the far wall of the market area. Said wall was a smoking pile of rumble. Thankfully no one was hurt, the only causality was another one of Scrooge's failed attempts at Sea Salt Ice Cream. It had melted from the heat wave as the star passed by.

"Well this was quite a mess. A costly mess at that." Scrooge commented as he prodded the rumble with his cane. He did a quick calculation. "I'd say 500,000 Munny to fix it." He concluded as the rumble shifted. Leon and Cid get into battle stances as a gloved hand rises out of the pile.

"Don't just stand there! Remove the rumble so we can interrogate them!" Scrooge barks at them. It took five minutes to uncover Zane who looked unharmed but caked with dust. Next to him was his Vespa and guitar, which had a black cloak hanging off the neck.

"you have got to be kidding me. This pinhead was flying a Moped only to crash land here?" Cid asks incredulously. Scrooge whoops Cid upside the head with his cane. "I've seen weirder things in my 138 years of life." Leon and Cid look at him questioningly. "Yes that's my age. I age gracefully." Scrooge said.(He was born in 1867 so he is really old.)

"Did someone slip me magic mushrooms?" Zane say as he shook his head to clear the cobwebs from his brain. Scrooge walks up to him and leaning on his cane said. "No you are not hallucinating, maybe a concussion." Zane tills his head and asks. "Did you know you sound like David Tennant?"

"Really? Who is David Tennant?" Scrooge asked intrigued. "He's a famous actor. A globally known one too. Love his work." Zane answers. Cid cuts in "That great and all but where did you learn to fly? !" Zane shrinks back "I had no idea it'd do that! I was just testing how fast it'd go on on a road no used anymore. Next thing I know I'm in space being attacked and couldn't slow down fast enough on reentry." Zane explains quickly.

He knew how much damage the Gunblade and Cid's spear could dish out. Thankfully Scrooge defused the problem. "Just make him pay repair fee and teach him to fly better. Honestly, you youngster get into so much trouble far too easy." He say sighing. Right on que a compartment on the moped opens and a book drops out.

Leon picks it up reading the front cover. "The Stars and the Moped: an complete guide to using and repairing your ride By: Haruko Haruhara." He tosses it to Cid. "I didn't know that was there?" Zane said as Cid thumbed through the book. "Looks legit" Cid said snapping it shot and grab Zane's jacket dragging him off to teach him.

Scrooge picked up Zane's wallet and checked it's contents. "Perfect! He's got 36,000 munny to start paying off his debt." He says as he pockets the munny.(I set the munny to us dollar conversion rate at 1 us dollar is 18 munny.)

Sora, Donald, and Goofy come running. "Uncle Scrooge! Is anyone hurt?" Donald asked worried. "Not to worry. It was just a crash landing." They look around. "Where's the ship?" Sora asks. "The moped is the ship." Scrooge clarifies leaving them dumb struck.

Sora notices the black cloak. "Did the rider take that as he passed them?" "Passed who?" Sora explains. "The shooting star ran over a bunch of bad guys wearing cloaks like that." Scrooge laughs "This is priceless. I can't wait to tell him that."

"Sora! Don't we need to get to the next world?" Goofy reminds him. "Oh right! See you later!." The run off to their gummieship. Scrooge walks off still chuckling to himself. "This will be amusing to tell."

Restoration Committee HQ aka Merlin's house, Hollow Bastion

"...and that's when Cid dragged me here." Zane finished explaining to Yuffie and Aerith as Cid was reading the book from the Moped like it was life or death. "Sounds like you have interesting luck. How old are you?" Yuffie asks. Zane answered "17." In the background Cid comments "No wonder you are a crap driver." Zane took offense to that. "HEY! I was dodging lasers and rockets in space for the first time. You can't expect me to land perfectly on the first try."

Aerith played peace keeper and said "Calm down. We can work this out peacefully."Cid looks away grumbling. The door opened and Scrooge walked in. "Young man, despite the circumstances, you ripped up the market area. The total debt is 500000 munny." Zane drooped in his seat. "Luckily you had a decent amount of munny to pay off some the debt. 36000 to be exact."

Zane looked confused. "I had dollars in my wallet not munny?" He catches his wallet as Scrooge tosses it to him. "Not to worry it must be some magic who ever sold you the moped cast. In fact your clothing have protection magic on them." Looking owl eye Zane blinks. "so I payed.." he does the math. "72000 munny for a space moped, clothing that has magic in it and a guitar that might be magical too?"

It was Merlin who poofed in that answered. "The guitar has some interesting magics on it. Indestructible, a magic bullet shooter, a rip cord that enhances the impacts, a spell that lets you play it without an amp or power source, and a sound effect spell for flair."

Everyone was looking at Merlin. "that has to be the weirdest usable weapon I've ever seen." Cid pointed out. Merlin rolled his eyes and said to Zane. "Seeing as you have 464000 munny left to pay off, I have a job for you. An old friend of mine that can show you some things about combat. His students will be more than willing to help. Do this and you will have 20000 munny paid off."

Merlin looks stern "Be warned. Tell nothing of what happened in the last 10 years, not that you know much, but still I have to warn you. When you arrive ask for Master Eraques. Hand this to him and he will understand." Merlin hands Zane a letter.

"Ok? I'll get ready." Zane says.

20 minutes later

Zane was geared up ready to go. In front of him was a silver door in the middle of the room. "Make sure the letter gets to the right person. Good luck!" Merlin said as Zane opened the door and drove through on his moped. The door closed behind him.

Leon was in the shadows leaning on the door frame "He's traveling to the past, isn't he?" Merlin sighed and answered. "Yes he is. I can not stop the events that happened back then but at least we can forge a bond that may lead to their safe return in this time."

"I hope you're right." Leon said walking off to check on things in town. Cid was scanning the black cloak to see if he could find anything of interesting from it.

 **Author's Note: Yeah the first world is Land of Departure before BBS happened. Merlin's plan is for Zane to befriend the trio and gets a wayfinder. Then Merlin will use the wayfinder to track down the trio in the present. A risky plan but it might work. See you next time!**


	3. I Think I Can

**Welcome! Zane will be spending a year in the past so I'll be showing the key points of his training. And He's gonna get a summon. Those who played FF know the pain these can cause to the unprepared. Let's begin!**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 3: I Think I Can**

Land of Departure 365 days till return.

Zane Looked around to see that he was in a courtyard. It was a beautiful place. He was broken from his musings by a voice. "Well, what brings you to the Land of Departure?" The speaker was an old man with yellow eyes. He was bald and his back bend with age. Next to him was a large crate with air holes.

"Oh! I was sent to meet Master Eraqus." Zane answered as the old man looked thoughtful. "Are you a keyblade user sent for training?" Zane shook his head at this. "No. I'm just here to learn how to fight properly. I'm not lucky to be chosen but a keyblade." The old man nods at this.

"It's good to see a warrior, even if it's one to be, that is humble. I myself am delivering a creature to Eraqus." The old man said and said crate rocked before falling silent. The old man floats the crate and beckons it along with one hand.

Throne Room

Zane and the old man who he learned was called Master Xehanort enter the throne room where a man that kinda looked like a samurai sat on one of two thrones. He got up and walked up to Xehanort greeting him. "Xehanort! What bring you here?" turning to Zane he asked "And who is this?"

Zane bowed respectively and presented the letter from Merlin. Master Eraqus took the letter. He opened it and scanned it's contents. With a stern look, he asked "I will not cuddle you. This is your only chance to back out. Is this the path you seek?" Zane straightened up and said in a clear voice. "I may not be ready but I will try none the less."

Master Eraqus smiles "Good. That's the attitude I look for. Keep it up and I'll be more than happy to train you." Xehanort chuckles "I knew I saw potential in you. You may not wield a keyblade but you will make a fine warrior." Eraqus looks at the crate. "What is in there?" Xehanort answers annoyed "a troublesome creature that was found on one of the worlds. It was causing havoc among the locals. They asked me to catch it."

The crate shakes and an indigent "GE-KA" is heard from it. Xehanort winces as a needle shoots from one of the holes and stabs his hand. "See what I mean? It's quite fast and it's needles bypass defenses." He pucks the needle out and hands it to Eraqus who studies it. "Interesting. It's not any kind of magic I have seen and it's not darkness based. I will study the creature later."

"Good. The sultan will be happy that it's out of his hair. It ran circles around his guards and royal vizier." Xehanort walked outside and left. Zane looked at the crate and said "I'm sure that the creature meant no harm. It might be a prankster that needs to learn some manners." The crate shakes and a hopeful whistle of agreement was heard.

Eraqus rubs his chin in thought. "I will think about. Training starts at dawn. Get some sleep." "Right!"

The next day

Zane was standing in the Throne Room where Master Eraqus introduced him to the other apprentices. "This Zane. He will be learning under me with you for the year. I expect you to treat him with respect and help him become stronger." The three say as one "Yes Master Eraqus." "Good get to know each other and then spar. I will evaluate all of you."

"I'm Aqua, a pleasure to meet you." The blue haired teen said smiling. She looked to be a graceful fighter that evades well. "I'm Terra. I hope that we can train you well enough." The brown haired teen said. On the other hand Terra looked like he could tank hits and deliver heavy blows smashing defenses with ease.

The last one was a younger blonde haired teen who moved like the wind. "I'm Ventus." He said. Zane snorted. Their name alluded to how they fight. "As he said, I'm Zane. I hope I'm at least half way decent with this." He said showing them his weapon. They were confused. "That is an interesting weapon. Are you ready for the spar?" Aqua said respectively.

It was safe to say even one on one they beat him with ease. He was carried to bed by Terra and Aqua who praised him for lasting as long as he did. This was how his first mouth went. Learn new things, spar then get carried to bed and sleep off the pain.

Land of departure 322 days left

Master Eraqus had called the four of them to the throne room and the crate was next to him. "Zane. You expressed that the creature in here just needs to learn manners. After studying it, I have decided to give you a chance to prove you are right." He said then sliced the side of the crate open. The four peer into the dark interior curiously.

From the darkness a happy "GE-KA" was heard and a green blur zooms at Zane hugging his leg. Zane studies the creature. It was a short cactus creature, about 2 feet tall, with holes for eyes and mouth. It had arms and legs but not hand or feet. Zane expected it to hurt but the needles felt soft as velvet. Must be a defense mechanism. Then it hit him what it was. It was a Cactuar!

"What is it?" Terra asks. "I don't know but it's cute." Aqua said making the Cactuar blush and hide behind Zane's leg. Aqua giggles at that. Master Eraqus spoke. "If any unwarranted trouble happens because of it, it will go back into the crate. Am I clear?" They all salute even the Cactuar.

Later that day, Ventus discovered why it was so hard to catch. The Cactuar would go into a running pose, whistling and zooming off leaving him in it's dust. It would stop and let him almost catch up before zooming off again. Ventus had fun even as a plant was outrunning him.

Land of departure 187 days left

He had finally beat one of them. It was extinguishing by a proud moment for him. Off to the side the others cheer for him as Terra also laying on the ground comments "That is one tricky weapon. Shooting me point blank with a firaga was gutsy." Zane laughs "It was a last ditch idea. You were about to beat me so I decided to risk it." They both laugh heartily before passing out.

Master Eraqus shakes his head at the duo by still smiles. "They pushed themselves past their limits. It's better here where it's safe than in life or death combat." He turns to Aqua "Please get them to the infirmary." "Right away."

The days pass by and Zane got better and defeated Ventus and Aqua too. Soon it got to the point that He was strong enough to fight all three at once. Now that was a challenge.

Land of departure 15 days left

This was the day he's win. It was Him and his plant buddy vs the trio. He realized that he need help to even the odds a few days ago and the Cactaur was more than happy to help. The fight had gone on for an hour when it came to a halt. Gasping for air Aqua said "Let's call it a tie. None of us can fight much longer." She was right. The problem was that they knew each others' movie too well to beat each other.

Sighing they rest staring up at the night sky. Zane enjoyed these moments. Just a bunch of friends watching the stars. "You're leaving soon aren't you?" Terra asked with a sad resigned look in his eyes. Sighing Zane nodded "In 15 days I am to return. Come to think of it my birthday is the day before I leave. I'll be18." Zane said not noticing the looks they share.

Land of departure 3 days left

The Throne Room

Master Eraqus stood before him with keyblade in hand. On the sidelines were Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. "Your final exam is to fight me." He said donning his armor. "Begin!" With that he rushed Zane striking rapidly forcing him on the defensive. Zane's mind raced How was he going counter this? ! After ten minutes of frantic dodging and parrying, Zane was slammed into the wall harshly.

"Get up!" Master Eraqus barked and Zane did so even as his body screamed for him to give up. The next strike threw him into the opposite wall. Master Eraqus had his keyblade at his throat. "Have you learned the lesson?" He asked coldly. Coughing in pain Zane said "Yeah there is always someone stronger than you."

Master Eraqus removes his armor and smiling proudly casts Curaga on Zane says "You pass." Eraqus winces as an angry Cactuar rained needles down on him with a rage filled "GE-KA!" Aqua and Terra run over helping Zane up. "I see that it's got a strong bond with you." Eraqus says plucking out needles as the Cactuar looks at Zane with concern.

Ventus asks Eraqus "What was the point of that? ! You were just beating him up!" Zane answers "It was an important lesson Ven. There will always be someone stronger than you. You can't become content with any level of strength or skill because you can always improve something. Many fall pray to that trap."

"well said. I trained you well. Maybe one day you will surpass me but that day isn't today." Eraqus says. He winces as he walks off to get the rest of the needles removed. That cactus has good aim.

Land of Departure eve of the last day

Zane, Terra and Ventus were watching the stars one last time. "So where's Aqua?" Zane asked. "She said she needed to grab something." Terra answered. Zane nods and asks "The Marks of Master is tomorrow, right?" "Yeah" "I'm sure you will pass." Zane reassures him. "Thanks"

"sorry for the hold up." Aqua says running up to them. She was carrying star shaped charms. She hands the orange one to Terra, the green one to Ven and a red one to Zane. "what are these?" He asks looking at it. "they are wayfinders. No matter how far apart we are connected." She explained. The Cactuar ran up bouncing happily with a wayfinder of it's own. It was made of scrape metal cobbled together to resemble the ones Aqua made.

"Oh! I see you made one too." Aqua said smiling as the plant beamed with pride. "Let's enjoy this time we've got." Zane said sighing.

Land of departure final day

"do you have to go?" Ven asked Zane who was packing up. The marks of mastery had gone sour. Zane hope Master Xehanort didn't hold him shooting the orb at his face against him for long. He wasn't even aiming that way.

"Hey Terra! You have a good time training. I'll challenge you to a rematch when we meet again!" As he drove off the Cactuar jumped on his back and held on as he returned to the present. The others laughed watching this. Leave it to the plant to make the parting a bitter yet happy moment.

 **Author's Note: That quite a ride. Yes his Summon is a Cactuar. It's attack 1000 needle and the upgraded version 10000 needles do a fixed damage in the FF games. It's one thing some players hate but it's a fun summon in some of the games. Zane is gonna be devastated when he learns the truth. On the topic of him matching all three fighting him together. He's spared with them for a while and picked up their tells and habits. So it very possible for that result to happen. The final exam for him was made to be impossible to win. It drives the lesson in.**


	4. Thank You, My Twilight

**Welcome! Not much to say save that Zane's reaction to their fate will not be forgotten by the those that witness it. That and the FF characters have knowledge of Cactuar.**

 **Disclaimer: Only own my ocs**

 **Chapter 4: Thank You, My Twilight**

Hollow Bastion 3 days after Zane entered time travel door

Cid looked up from the monitor as the silver door opened. Zane rolled in to view and the door dissolved into sparkling dust behind him. "Welcome back kid!" Cid grumbled and resumed typing as The others enter the room.

Leon looked and said "I see you didn't waste your time." Zane blinked and Yuffie clued him in "That's a compliment." Zane nodded and smiled. Aerith asked softly "Who's your friend?" Blinking Zane asked "What friend?" "the one on your back." she points out as that Cactuar peers over his shoulder and waves with a cheerful whistle.

Cid, Leon, and Yuffie jump back stumbling to get their weapons. "What is blazes is that doing here? !" Cid yells falling out of his chair. Aerith rolls her eyes and picks the Cactuar up and hugs it. "You aren't for trouble, are you? You just want to stick with Zane." The Cactuar nods rapidly and returns the hug.

Cid gets up and shakes his head "Kid, you make weird friends. Ow!" The last part was because of a needle sticking out of the front of his nose. That Cactuar was whistling innocently in Aerith's arm as Cid glared at it.

Yuffie started laughing leaning on Leon who was smirking. "So Merlin how are they?" Zane asked Merlin who walked in with a sad look on his face. "Zane my boy, They are currently missing and Eraqus is dead. But there's-" Merlin was cut off when Zane punched him square in the nose knocking him off cold as blood pooled from his broken nose.

Zane got on his Moped and drove off leaving them shocked. The Cactuar runs after him, only pausing to kick Merlin with a thorny kick to the face. Cid asked slowly "Do you think we should give him space?" They nod looking at Merlin who's face was bloody, swollen and needles sticking out of it.

Hollow Bastion Market area

Zane passed by Scrooge who called out "Young Man! What seems to be the trouble? !" Zane rolled to a stop. He was still mad at Merlin so he said angrily "I was just told that the people I trained with a dead or missing." Scrooge winced. "Want my advice?" Zane shrugs "Go somewhere and figure out what the best course of action is." Zane thinks about. "Ok. I'll do that."

The Cactuar runs up to him whistling worried. Zane smiles "I'll be fine. You stay here and keep an eye on them while I'm gone." The Cactuar salutes. Zane takes off for a world where he could think. Scrooge looked at the cactus creature and asked "So do you like ice cream?"

Unknown world

Zane gasped and looked around the world he landed in. The first thing he noticed was that it was a lot like earth. Next thing he noticed was that he was underwater and was a fish. Good new was he was a gammy shark, a smaller shark about 6 feet long at most. The bad news was he had no idea what to do. So he started swimming, slowing at first but he got the hang of it in no time.

He looks up to see a whale swimming away. "Cool" He comments. A clownfish and a royal tang were swimming around, ask fish the same questions. He swam over to them, noting how quiet he was. "Maybe I may be of assistance?" He said smoothly inwardly he laughs as they huddle together and the fish around them scatter.

Stammering, the clownfish says "We taste nasty." The tang nods. "Oh don't worry I'm not hungry at the moment." He reassures them. They relax at this. "You were asking for information?" Dory smiles and asks "DO you know where P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby way, Sydney is?" Zane thinks about.

"I might know where it is but I need some help first." The clownfish yells "Can it wait! I need to find my son!" Zane frowns and says "All I need is so advice. But first your names. My name is Zane." "I'm Dory!" she pause and ask the clownfish "Am I Dory?" Rolling his eyes he replies "Yes you are. I'm Marlin."

"Good. Now that that's out of the way. I was informed by someone I trusted that a friend I knew dearly was dead. And the rest of his family is missing." Dory asks "What's the problem?" Zane's answer was angry "He withheld that information from me till I asked!" "Ooh. That's a bad idea."

Marlin frowns "Did he have a reason for it?" sighing Zane said "I'm sure he did but that doesn't make it right!" Dory does a thinking pose before going Ah-ha! "Go find them. if you can't find them just keep swimming." She says cheerfully. Marlin sighed "It's not that simple. He-" Zane cuts him off "I think it's a great idea."

Dory beams. "Can you help us now!" Marlin asks. Zane points a fin to where they needed to go. "Go that way till you see a bunch of boats." "Like the one that took my son?" "Yeah. There might be a bird that can help you. But be careful because not all of them are willing to listen."

Zane swims off as they wave and thank him. He'd swim around awhile before he leaves, it was peaceful here.

Nightfall

Zane was watching an amusing sight. A school of tuna were chanting 'keep on fishing' and pulling the net down. He laughed when the rigging snapped off the boat and the tuna escaped. Dory and Marlin swim up to him with another fish that was his son.

"well the the rescue mission was a success." He greeted them. Marlin push his son forward "Nemo, this is Zane a shark that helped us find you." "hello." Zane looked at the sky and said. "I best be off. I have of lot of places to search."

He swims off feeling better. He'd come back to visit them later.

Between worlds

Zane was driving best he can shooting heartless ships with magic. "That's the last of them." He neared a world that looked like a town and a tower. "This world looks interesting. Whoa!" He was pulled to the tower side of the world.

Mysterious Tower

Zane looked around where he had been forced to land. "This has to be magic." He grumbled and entered the tower. He deadpanned at the sight that greeted him. Lots of stairs. "Great." He said sarcastically.

Many stairs later

"I swear that the master of this tower loves to mess with the visitors!" Zane yelled as he passed another set of stairs that lead to rooms and more stairs. "If this door leads to more stairs I will be so mad!" He yelled slamming open the door.

He stopped dead. He was in a study with a wizard looking at him sternly. "Greetings Master Zane." He said glaring slightly. Zane looked sheepish internally groaning at the 'master' title. Master Eraqus had told him he earned that after his final exam. He wasn't a keyblade master but he was given the responsibilities of one that he could do. Namely, keeping the worlds safe. He found it annoyingly stuffy to use other than formal moments.

Zane bowed. "I'm sorry about the yelling on the way up." The wizard's mouth twitched upwards. That proved his point. Zane sighed wizards love to mess with people. "My name is Yen Sid. I have called you here to discuss grave matters." Yen Sid said drawing a letter from his robes. "Read this then we will discuss your future and the fate of those that are lost."

Sitting down, Zane gingerly took the letter and read the front as his eye misted up. It was from Master Eraqus. He broke the seal and began to read. He imagined Master Eraqus at his desk with quill in hand.

Land of Departure years ago Eraqus' study

Eraqus dipped his quill in and began to write while inner mono logging.

"Dear Master Zane,

If you are reading this then I am dead. Merlin's letter warned me of a time of darkness. He not did give any details but when you are as skilled as me at reading in-between the lines, not much is hidden. Sadly I must have failed to notice something. When Xehanort disappeared I know something was wrong.

Given that I'm dead, that means an evil is lurking in the shadows. I have faith in you and my other students. Find them and get allies you trust. My regret is we never got to see if you'd beat me.

May your heart be your guiding key.

Sincerely

Master Eraqus"

He wrote his name and Zane's on the front before flipping it over and folding it up. He set down the quill and made a wax seal with his emblem. As a final touch he sealed it with magic. Rising from his seat he departed for Yen Sid's tower.

Mysterious tower

Present time

Zane sat there unsure of what to do. He wiped his eyes and asked Yen Sid "How can I find them?" Yen Sid nodded "Good question. You must trust your heart and the wayfinder. Hand me it and will aid you with a spell." Zane hands over his wayfinder.

Yen Sid mutters something and the wayfinder glows then returns to normal. He returns it to Zane."The spell will show you visions of the path you must take to reach them. They may be cryptic but they will help you. This is the best I can offer."

Zane bowed, tucking the letter away. "Thank you Master Yen Sid you are most helpful." Yen Sid nods saying "Go fourth. And May your heart be your guiding key." With that Zane left with a burning determination in his mind and heart. This was the start of his true journey. First stop Hollow Bastion. He had to let them now of his plans.

 **Author's Note: He's trained and tested. Now to put those to good work. He will be hopping worlds following the visions like a treasure map. It will be cryptic at times but that is how life is, never easy but worth it in the end. Yes he will be seeing more of the finding Nemo world. It was just a taste of what he'll see there. There will be combat but he needed to establish that he's a nice guy given he's a shark there. See you next time!**


	5. Blues Drive Monster

**Welcome! Zane will be meeting sora for the first time and he will clear up a something that Sora and his team seems to think is true. It will be around the time that Merlin summons Sora to tell him about Pooh's book. Oh Yeah Spoilers for Ori and the Blind Forest.**

 **Disclaimer: Only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 5: Blues Drive Monster**

Hollow Bastion market area

Zane touched down was greeted by the sight of his cactus buddy debating with Scrooge about ice cream. "It was almost right this time. Maybe use more cream?" Scrooge said and the Cactuar nods and rushs off to get more ingredients.

"I see that they are keeping busy while I was gone." Zane said. Scrooge smiled and said proudly "without their help I'd be weeks behind where I am now." Scrooge grasps his hand and shakes it. "Thank you, young lad." He looks Zane over and asks "I see you found your answer."

Zane walks off to find Merlin but runs into Sora knocking him off his feet. "What's the big idea? !" Donald demanded brandishing his staff as Goofy helps Sora up. "Sorry about that. I wasn't looking where I was going." Zane tries to explain.

"You show pay more attention! You knocked over the keyblade master." Donald says kinda gloating. Zane looks at them and laughs. "I'm sorry to laugh but his not a master. He's only a keyblade wielder." Zane said between laughs. Sora looked confused, Goofy was thoughtful and looked ready to blow his top.

"That's nonsese! The keyblade picked him to be it's master. There for his a keyblade master." Donald explained glaring at Zane. Zane stopped laughing and explained "You need to take a Marks of Mastery exam to carry the title of Master." Donald crossed his arms and retorted "Like you know anything. Who are you anyways?"

Zane stood up straighter and declared "I am Master Zane the fourth student of Master Eraqus." Donuld didn't look impressed. "Who is Master Eraqus?" Scrooge rushed over and asked "Is that true? No wonder you reacted so badly to the news." he turned to Donald and said "Master Eraqus was a keyblade master. Sadly he's dead."

Donald shrunk back looking embarrassed. Sora on the other hand asked excitedly "Can you teach me more about the keyblade?" Zane blinked before laughing amused "Not much, given that I don't have one, but I can teach you some tricks that will be helpful. Just not now." "Why not?" "I have places to be and I have to see if Merlin is ok. I knocked him out and knock his nose."

"That was you? !" The three yell. They had seen Merlin. His face was warped up and Aerith refused to heal him with magic for some reason, she refused to say. They talk for a few more minutes before they part ways.

Hollow Bastion Merlin's house

Zane entered and an owl on a perch looked at him and yelled out "Merlin! The onee that broke your nose is here!" He turns to Zane and says "Hello my name is Archimedes. I'm not surprised that you punched him. He steps on toes from time to time if you get my meaning. Maybe he'll learn to have more tact in the future."

Merlin walked into view and glared at the owl, who looked back at him smugly. Zane leaves the room as they start to bicker. He runs into Cid at the computer. "Hey Cid." He turns grinning "Kid you gave us a break through." He brings up a window showing the black cloak. "These clocks explain how the nobodies and teleport like they do." He brings up a picture of a Corridor of Darkness. "These are the paths they use to get around. Just going through one exposes you to a lot of darkness. They are the paths heartless use."

Cid leans back. "The problem is that we can only program the defense system to react to them appearing, not preventing." He grumbles irritated. Zane sighs "Well I have kinda good news." Cid looks up and say "Hang on. I'll get the others."

Five minutes later.

Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith greeted him warmly as Cid leans in his chair. "So the good news is that I have a possible lead. The problem is it's not likely to be clear cut." Zane said sheepishly. Leon nods saying "Life hardly ever is clear cut." The computer sounds an alarm. "What the hell!" Cid whirls around and types away. "We caught something!...Damn it! All that we caught was a note."

Zane leans in and says "Can you zoom in on the note?" "sure" On the note was a water drop, the word 'in', a black blob, and a planet. "a puzzle?" Cid asks scratching his head. The others look at it. Zane looks at it intently. "Aqua! It's telling where Aqua is!" he cries.

"ok. What's the rest of it?" Yuffie asks. Aerith thinks out loud "the planet might mean world or realm. The black blob is heartless? Darkness?" Zane slams his head on the wall. "there is a Realm of Darkness. I had hoped that I wouldn't have to visit there." He says softly.

Leon states "It's the heartless' home world, isn't it?" "yeah. It's also where the remains of worlds go when the heartless devour them. Nasty place and quite big too. Never been there but the records of past masters tells me that much." Zane says shivering.

"Any plan to get in, get her and out safely?" Cid asks. "Nope. So Aqua will have to wait. I'll look for Terra." As soon as Zane said that he got a vision of a rock formation, a elephant graveyard, and the word Rafiki.

Shaking his head, Zane said. "Never mind. I need to find Refiki." "Good luck." Aerith says offering encouragement.

2 days later

deep space

You'd think it'd be easy to find the world he was looking for but it had been two days of flying and no luck. Looking around, He saw that he was near a dead looking world it had a forest, a swamp, and a mountain. It would have been beautiful but as he said it was quite dead and sickly looking at the moment.

He was going to look elsewhere but something told him to look there. He hoped this was a good idea. He entered the world and felt the magic camouflaging him to fit among those of this world.

Forest of Nibel

Zane blinding looked at himself. He had wings and bird feet. His feathers looked like flames. Spotting a pool of water, he saw that he was a only three feet tall. Tilling his head, he guessed that he was some kind of raper, given he had a curved beak. A slug like creature spat a glowing purple glob of something at Zane.

Stumbling back he tried to use magic. On instinct, he shot a fireball from his beak. The slug was ashes. "That was cool!" Zane said "I must be a fire bird. SO COOL!" His voice was melodic. His joyful song was interrupted when the bushes rustle. "Who's there?" Zane asks perching on a branch fireball ready.

A glowing white creature slowly came into view trying to look as small as possible with a ball of light following it. Zane shot the fireball into the air and glided down. The creature was smaller than him, maybe a foot tall at most.

"Little one, I will not hurt you. My name is Zane. What is your?" The creature spoke not in words but feelings sounds. It sent feelings of curiosity, worry, joy, loss and tiredness. As for sounds it it whimpered unsure of what to do.

Zane took this all in before picking up the creature and flying up to a place in the trees. The creature looked tired It was best let it get sleep. A vision of a red haired mother singing to her daughter appeared in his mind and he began to sing.

(Check out the song Hana Kazone from Ancient Magus Bride if want to hear the lullaby)

The Creature's worries drifted away and it let it self join sleep's sweet embrace. As he finished singing the ball of light spoke "That is a beautiful song. My name is Sein and this is Ori." Zane looked out over the forest. It was dying. "What happened to this place?" Zane asked draping a wing over Ori who cuddled closer.

Sein was silent for a minute but speaking "It all began when Ori was lost in a storm. The Spirit Tree, the heart of the forest, knew she(The gender is unknown but I'm labeling Ori as Female) was not gone. The Tree sent out light to find her but Naru, the one that found her, hid Ori away from the light."

Zane trust his gut and it told him something went wrong. "What happened?" Sein continued but a somber tone. "Kuro, a giant owl, attacked. She killed spirits and ripped me, the Eyes of the Spirit Tree, dropping me in a gorge. Because the Tree was blinded, so was the forest."

"what of Naru and why did Kuro attack?" Zane asked quietly "All life needs food and with the forest blind..." Zane finished the statement "food runs out." Sein nods. "as for Kuro, she is blinded with rage." Zane looked at Sein "You are avoiding the question. Why did she attack?"

Sein looked away before answering. The answer made Zane wonder if Ori knew. Knew that The Light of the Spirit Tree that searched for her was the same light that killed Kuro's owlets. He'd deal with it in the morning. As he drifted off to sleep he knew Sein would keep watch.

The next morning

Zane woke to Ori shifting under his wing. "Good morning Ori." He greeted warmly and Ori responded with feeling of joy and a questioning feeling. "Yes I shall help you. Sein explained what's going on. While you get the world back together I's see what I can do."

Ori drooped sending feelings of disappointment and worry. Laughing Zane wing hugged her. "Don't worry. I'll be safe." With that they departed with Ori heading for the wind element and Zane flying off to see if he could reason with Kuro.

Five hours later

Zane looked about. How was it so hard to find a bus sized owl? ! He passed but a mountain when he was slammed into a shelf of rock. He was pinned down by a claw as Kuro glared with hate filled glowing eyes. "I'm guessing you're Kuro?" the claws pushed harder.

"Right. Stupid question. I know you are grieving but killing the forest will only doom yourself and everyone else. Kuro screech and a wave of hate, sadness, love poured from her. "Please! Think of your unhatched egg! It needs a home!" The claw gripped him so hard he passed out.

When he awoke he was surrounded by fire. He watched as the forest was burning. Flying as fast as he can flew to where Kuro stood. She had stopped Ori and pined Sien in her claw. A bear like creature defiantly walked up to Kuro and lifted up the still Ori.

Kuro moved by this looked up sharply as flames crawled their way to the unprotected egg. Zane picked up speed snatching Sein and flew to the Spirit Tree.

Kuro watched as that strange bird that she knew should be dead by her claws flying to restore the forest. She was forced to cover herself with her wings as a blinding light fulled the land. When it passed the fire was stopped and it started to rain. Ori woke up, flinching at the sight of Kuro just looking at her. seeing Naru alive, she hugged her as Naru returned the hug.

Kuro flew off to protect her egg. She'd thank that bird if they meet again. Peace was restored to the Forest of Nibel, but what of Zane? Well he landed somewhere unexpected.

The Realm of Darkness

Zane groaned. "where am I? Why am I still a bird?" He was on a beach with dark water and sharp rocks sticking out of the sand. He heard foot steps. "Somebody there?" a voice Zane knew called out. "Aqua! Over here!" He cried as the foot steps started running.

Aqua came into view looking around. "Zane! Where are you?" Zane yelled out "Over Here! I'm the bird!" Aqua lifted him up and inspected him giggling with tears running down her face. "Zane! I missed you! Why are you a bird? How did you get here?"

"well. I may have saved a world by restoring a tree that sent out so much light that it punched a hole here." He said bashfully. Aqua laughed hard. "Your luck strikes again. That may be the reason you are still a bird." She says as Zane perches on her shoulder. He shrugged "I think that a way out will present itself."

three hours later.

"...And that's how I ended up here." Zane finished they had traded stories for the past three hours and it was a mixed bag of emotions. Zane looked up as an inhumanly beautiful voice drifted from the void. "Do you seek freedom? I can offer it for a price."

Aqua called out "What is the price?" The answered with a sharp undertone. "Agree to hunt down a thief and I will save you from there. In fact I will restore him to his human form after the task is finished. No sooner."

Zane whispers "Here's our chance. All we have to do is catch someone. My gut say that it's not a lie." Aqua looks worried but nods. "We agree!" Amusement tinted the voice "I knew you'd agree." trees grew to form an arch as green light and the smell of nature filled it.

"shall we?" Zane said as the they enter it. After they entered the arch, it decayed to dust and the only sound was the lapping of waves.

 **Author's Note: Zane got Aqua out but he's got a task from someone powerful. Who's the thief? Who is the one that saved them? Find out next time!**


	6. Beautiful Morning With You

**Welcome! The next few chapters will be featuring some dark stuff. I'm talking about death, cruelty to animals, pouching, immoral experimenting and things like that. The 'Thief' they will be hunting in a real piece of work.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 6: Beautiful Morning With You**

Zane gripped Aqua's shoulder and flapped his wings. They were in the air. "Aqua! It's dawn." Zane says laughing joyfully. Aqua smiled as the first rays of dawn peaked over the horizon. "Thank Zane." She said before falling silent.

Puzzled Zane looked at her and squawked in alarm. Aqua passed out and was breathing shallowly. "Aqua? ! Hang on! I'll get up you help!" He searched the land and spotted a house. It was the only house that was close by with the village too far for his liking.

As he flow closer he realized that his vision was blurring and a hunger gnawed at his stomach. He hadn't had anything to eat for days. When he was in the realm of darkness he felt fine. He blanched at this. Aqua had been in there for years.

Of course she'd be facing the repercussions after she left. He was nearing the house, there was smoke from the chimney. The last sight he saw before he passed out was the door being opened as he bowled the person over.

Silky looked at the unexpected visitors that had crashed into her. A majestic bird and a blue haired woman. They were out cold. Getting up she carried them to the guest room as the other occupants of the house were roused by the racket.

She passed them briskly, the woman needed to be looked at. "Silky! What happened?" Ruth asks transforming from his true from as a church grimm to his guise as a human. Silky wordlessly explained and Ruth nodded helping her.

Noon the next day

Zane groaned as someone made him drink something bitter. Coughing he opens eyes his eyes. Before him was a tall human looking thing save for the fact it had a horned skull with glowing eyes for a head. Zane squawked in alarm and pain as his wings protested the sudden moment.

"I taste nasty!" He yelled as the skull man looked at him with interest. "Tell me. What brings a phoenix and a woman to my home?" His voice was almost flat sounding. Zane asked "Where's aqua?" The skull man tilted his head. "I'm guessing that is the woman's name. She is resting is the other room. Rest for now, I will carry you."

The skull man picked up Zane and Zane saw that his wings were bandaged. The skull man saw where he was looking and said "There is multiple hairline fractures in your wings. You are not to fly for a few days." Zane grumbled before saying "Thank you for helping us. My name is Zane." They entered a room where Aqua was resting. There was a red hair woman replacing a wet cloth on her forehead and she slept. Looking up, she smiled "Elias how is the phoenix doing?"

The skull man, Elias seemed to brighten up "He woke up and wished to she her. Her name is Aqua according to him." The woman walked up to him and he knew her. It was the little from the vision of the song. "Hello my name is Chise Hatori. You gave us a scare when you arrived like you did. Can you tell us how you got here?" She said smiling kindly.

Before he said a word, two beings appeared in the house and there was a knock at the door. Zane looked at the new comers. One was a short creature with flipper like hands, this he knew was a selkie. It was the other one that scared him. Before him was a satyr like with deer hooves and horns. His flawlessly beautiful features marked him as one of the Fae.

"You better answer the door." Even his voice was too perfect to be human. Zane was trembling. He had no way of faghting him in his weakened state. He couldn't even fly! The Fae's eyes drifted to him. They were filled with amusement, enjoying an unseen or heard joke. "Well. The bird is here after all." with that Zane is snatched up and carried to the sitting room by the Fae.

Ten minutes later

Zane was petrified as the Fae had looked him from beak to claws commenting things like "a striking color." and "you must have wonderful voice." He was saved when Elias entered the room with Chise. Following them was the Selkie, a black dog, a one armed man with a a scared face, and a bloude haired woman who looked older than Chise by a few years.

"May I have him, Oberon?" Chise asked noticing Zane's state. Zane was terrified now! This was the king of the Fae! The only one that was scarier is his wife Titania. Oberon seemed to put and handed Zane over to her.

As everyone sat down the selkie set a bowling ball sized crystal ball that showed a man's face in it's depths. The man in the crystal ball was the first to speak. "If I'm right everyone here is most likely on the same page." The one armed scared man answered "If you mean hunting down Grag Flanten, then yes we are." The atmosphere in the room darken and Zane asked tentatively "Who's that?"

The new comers look at him and he shrinks back. Oberon with a look of disgust says "That man has evaded many people. Normally the fae wouldn't care but he had the audacity to kidnap several fae that Titania favors."

Chise looked shocked as the man in the ball adds "He also poached a dragon along being tablespoon for the disappearance of at least a hundred animals." Zane could tell from their faces that they all wanted a piece of this scum of a man.

Zane said "Would working together help?" Oberon grinned and not in a nice way. "Of course and it's your task." "what do you mean his tasks?" the blonde woman asked "Oh you know. He asked for a way out of the Realm of Darkness and agreed. SO he has to do it or. Well let's just say that it will be a fate worse than death if he fails."

"what is the Realm of Darkness?" The blonde woman asked the man in the ball answers "A place where light never touches and the creatures of darkness thrive. How did you end up there in the first place?"

Zane sighed and finally introduced himself "My name is Master Zane one of the four students of Master Erqus. As for how I got there. Master Aqua one of my fellow students got trapped there and I needed to save her."

Elias asks "But how did you get there?" Looking sheepish Zane said "I used a n explosion of light to open a way. But it was only one way. That and I'm stuck as a bird." Oberon nods at this "Messing with the heart of a world can be unpredictable. You got lucky." Zane grumbled "I don't feel lucky. I made a deal with someone that is worse than any devil."

"Oh don't worry. Titania is far more likely to uphold the deal." The Fae king says off hand. "Now go and relax. Take the dog with you." Zane and dog are teleported elsewhere as the meeting goes on.

A random forest

Zane lays on his back grumbling about Fae and their pranks. "hey! Dog you got a name?" The dog shifts to a human male with black hair. "I am Ruth Chise's familiar." He says picking up Zane who was cursing the fact he was grounded at the moment.

Remembering something, Zane summons a trinket that looked like a door. "If I'm right then this is the perfect way to pass the time. This will open a door to place to relax but only on Saturday." Channeling some magic a door appears in front of them.

The door had a cat on it and it said Western Restaurant Nekoya. "shall we?" Zane asks as Ruth's mouth begins to water. He opens the door.

Nekoya

Zane and Ruth were in homey restaurant it was the lunch hour rush. They were greeted by a horned girl. "Welcome to Nekoya..." she pauses and yells to the kitchen "Master! One of the customer is a bird!" The master yells back "Just seat them and show them the menu!"

She nods and says to Zane and Ruth "Right this way." They were seated at a table and Zane sees that there was many different kinds of people eating. There was humans, royalty, merchants and commoners that hails from different places even a wizard and warrior from the east. But there was also a a lizard man, a lion demon, elves, and other creatures.

The waitress hands them the menus. "Have look and I'll be happy to answer your questions." Ruth looked at the menu and said "I'll have the cloud pancake stack." She nods and Zane asks "What's the gazed fruit platter?" She smiles and answers "It's a platter of what ever fruit that is available coated with a glaze of the fines honey." "I'll have that." She walks to the kitchen to tell the cook.

The Lion demon looks at and asks "What's your story? You look like you had quite a battle." The other people here listening in. Zane shrugs and winces from the pain "Well for one, I'm normally a human but some magic made me into a phoenix. As for the wings, I pushed myself way too hard after trying to calm down an angry mother."

The lion demon laughs "That is quite a tale you will have to share the details with us. I have to know why you got on that mother's bad side." The waitress sets their food down. Ruth's order was a tall stack of thick pancakes that looked as fluffy as clouds. He tore into it cry tears of joy at the flavor as the other diners laugh at his react.

Zane dish was a platter of chopped up fruits and berries like peaches, pear, a strawberries, and many others. They glistened. Using magic he floated a piece to his beak and hummed in contentment. It was perfect.

In between bite he told his tale and the crowd loved it. They enjoyed his unfolding tale. One customer sat silently watching him. Red Queen knew that he'd be interesting, so she cast a spell that made Zane glow slightly before fading. He'd enjoy the blessing of fire she gave him.

She almost crushed her spoon when he mentioned vaguely that he was hunting a poacher. Poachers were pest. She hoped that the poacher suffers.

Later that evening

Ruth and Zane had returned home and learned that the meeting went well and the plan was for each person to search for the thief forcing him to reveal himself. It was a matter of days before they found him. On the other hand, Aqua hadn't woken yet. Only time would tell.

 **Author's note: Life is being difficult for Zane and the pressure is on. And Yes Death is a mercy if you get on a fae's bad side. The Nekoya segment is based on an anime where a restaurant in japan has diners coming from a fantasy world on saturday when it's 'closed'. It's a nice slice of life anime. See you next time!**


	7. STALKER

**Welcome! The time has come to see the face of the scumbag of thief! He'll get what is coming to him for sure. But will catching him be enough? Let's find out!**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 7: STALKER**

Elias's house

Zane shifted on his perch by aqua's bed. It had been a few days and no luck finding the thief. On top of that, Aqua still hadn't woken yet. He watched Silky the maid tending to Aqua after placing a bowl of grapes for him. The good news was he was fit to fly not that he was going to move from his perch.

An hour later

Zane looked up sharply as he spotted movement outside of the window. Whatever it was, it was gone now. He returned to his vigil over the bed only stopping to eat or drink. As the hours passed he grew tired and eventually falling asleep.

As he slept, the window was opened and a man in black crept in. The man grinned and throw Zane into a heavy sack as he squawked in alarm. The man leaped out the window and ran for the trees not seeing a shadow jumping into his as the moonlight hit him.

A forest clearing a few miles away.

"at long last have have the perfect subject. This bird will be the perfect component to create my ultimate creature!" In the moonlight the man's face was revealed. His skin was as pale as a vampire and his bony cheeks made his sickly yellow eyes look bulging out of his skull. His teeth were yellowed and his hair was bleached and hung like rat tails from his skull.

His hands were gnarled and claw like with veins pulsing visibly under the skin. He did a jig gleefully. "That man was right! No one can catch me with this beast under my command!" He cried as a large outline of something standing behind him shifted slightly.

Black thorny tendrils snatched the bag from him as more grabbed his limbs. "NO! Stop them!" The invisible thing slashed the tendrils freeing the man and the bag dropped open. Zane, looking mad, tumbled out and Elias, rising from the shadows, said "We meet at last Grag Flanten. You look uglier than I imagined."

Grag snarled "How did you find me? !" with a mock grin Elias said "We laid bait you couldn't resist." "HEY!" Zane chimed in. Grag's madness filled eyes gleamed and the invisible thing revealed itself, a Lurk Lizard. A giant chameleon like emblem heartless that had a nasty habit of sneak attacks and underhanded tactics.

"Kill him and get me the bird unharmed!" Grag tried to command the heartless but it just looked at him before backhanding him into a tree, knocking him out cold. It then cloaked itself readying to attack Elias, who wasn't impressed.

He calmly taps his staff and thorns stab in a circle radiating out around him. Zane ducks as one goes over his head. "Watch it you bonehead!" Zane cried out. A cluster of thorns shifted as the heartless jumped back with gaping holes that dripped darkness like blood. It shrieked with pain and rage, firing eye lasers. Zane blocked them with fire magic. It shot it's tongue out, grabbing Zane a reeling him in. Zane panicked for a moment but hatching a plan on the fly.

As Zane got within striking range of the claws, he shoots a firaga down it's throat. The beast flailed about as it's insides were burned to ash and more of the darkness like blood gushed from it's wounds profusely. With one lasts shuttering breathe it fell and becoming ash as a heart floats away.

Oberon walking into view and a woman joined him. Zane took one look at her and knew it was Titania. Zane bowed respectively "My lady, I have delivered the thief as promised. I hope this pleases you." She walks over to him and raises his beak softly. Leaning down she kisses his beak making him blush. "Well done. But the job is not done." She says kindly. Zane felt as if angels sung to him. He knew that She was dangerous but her kind tone felt so nice.

"What do you mean, my lady?" Zane asks worried. A look of disgust crosses her face as she looks at Grag who was being dragged off by Oberon. "You need to free those that he kidnapped or at least bring me news of their fate. Until then the task not done." She smiles vindictively "Don't worry. I have ways of prying the information from him for you." She walks away calmly and vanishes.

"He's not dying anytime soon, is he?" Zane asks shivering even though he knows the answer. Elias answers anyways. "Death is the last thing that will be given to him." Zane flies to the arm that Elias offers and they return home.

The next day

Elias' Home

Zane was resting peacefully next to Aqua's bed when she opened her eyes. Slowly she leaned forward and looked at her surroundings. "It wasn't a dream!" She cries as tears of joy run down her face. Zane wakes with a start and launched himself at Aqua hugging her with relief. "Aqua! you're awake! You were sleeping for almost week! Please don't worry me like that again!"

Silky looked on from the doorway and smiled before leaving them alone.

Two hours later

Zane flew into the kitchen feeling lighter. Chise smiled and asked "Is your friend Aqua doing ok?" Zane beamed and did a few loops in the air. "Oh she hasn't recovered fully yet but she's rested up and just needs some of Silky's wonderful food!" Chise laughs as Silky smiles at the compliment. A fae Zane never sew before walked in. He wear furs and had stone on his face. He carried a staff with a ring hanging off of it.

The fae was greeted by a hug from Silky and he smiled at her but it faded afterwards. "May I have the honor of knowing a name you go by?" Zane asks in a formal tone. "you odd one, may call me Spriggan. You are to go this location, 'his' lair is hidden in the cave there." He spat the word 'his' out like it was venom as he handed over a scroll. "Farewell. Give the queen my thanks." Zane says and the fae nods before leaving.

Chise opened the scroll and it showed a detailed map with the traps that protected the lair and how to disarm them. Zane read it. "That explains why they couldn't enter. The scumbag lined the walls and doors with Cold Iron. It's poison to the fae."

later that day

The hidden lair

After dismantling the traps, Zane and Chise looked at the door. It was easy to open. They stepped in and were hit will a putrid smell. They gagged and looked around at the animal corpses that were cut up and some were stitched together to make Frankenstein type creatures.

That was jars with things floating in them. It was horrible but the pressed on. Room after room was filled with the same things. They passed the sleeping room and made note of the wall of books and research notes. They'd take those with them. There was things they needed from them.

The last room was lined with cages. No animals but there was the missing fae and the young dragon who was hiding in the corner of his cage. IN the last cage was a moogle, who was shivering. "We're here to save you." Zane said softly melting the locks. Chise guided them out and Zane packed up the books and notes.

Before he left he created a Mega Flare and compressed it greatly, throwing it as he left. As He exited the cave, a deafening boom and rumbling filled the air. The lair was destroyed completely along with the cave that housed it. It was time to return home and let this nightmare of a task end.

Elias' home

Titania and Oberon were waiting for them. Chise stood off to the side as Zane bowed "The captives were freed, the knowledge taken and the lair demolished." Zane reported and added sadly "Many animals were butchered to make monsters. None completed, but the fact he got that far sickens me."

The Fae nodded and Titania stepped forward. "You have done well on your task. Before I return your human form there is something I must tell you. A hooded man gave the thief the heartless. This is a request, not a demand. Please stop this hooded man from causing more trouble." She said.

Zane nodded and she did something. Zane glowed and with a flash of light he was human again. He notices a feather braided into his hair. "You may take the form of a bird at will now unless your forced otherwise. That form grants a mild healing factor and a boost to fire magic. Be warned, you are not immortal, just harder to kill." She said. "Thank you again. My lady." Zane said bowing again as the fae leave.

Chise breaks the silent "you did good." He smiled and said "I know." they enter the house, there was a lot of reading to do. As they entered, Elias looked at Zane. "I see you have your own style." Aqua rushed and hugged him. "Your back!" She blinks and looks at the feather. "It looks nice on you." Zane looks away blushing. "Thanks." He mumbles.

Chise chuckles. Those two were in love and didn't know it yet. She wished them luck for when they realized that fact. Silky was standing with a ladle in hand looking at them exasperatingly. They got the hint and sat to eat dinner. Zane and Aqua walked with hand linked not giving it any mind.

Two days later

Elias' home

The dragon was returned home and the moogle was better. The moogle rushed off promising a reward for saving him later. Zane didn't mind that much. He was too busy reading the research he recovered. It was a vile read but an informative one. The endgame was to create an army and destroy anyone that had looked down on him.

Not very original but the guy was insane so his logic was very twisted. Sighing he set the notes aside and stared out the window. His life had changed so much and so fast. If he read it right then Grag's life changed like his did but Grag broke and headed down a dark path.

Tomorrow he'd look for Rafiki, something told him he'd find the right world this time. Yen Sid had told him he'd be guided by visions but Zane know that these hunches were the charm guiding him in a different way. Even when that old wizard talked straight he left cryptic hints between the lines.

He got up and walked to the kitchen, joining Aqua, who he had fallen in love with. He wondered if she felt the same.

 **Author's note: That was a dark time. Good news is that Pride Lands is next. It will lighten the mood after this venture. Yes the main pairing is Zane and Aqua. Yen Sid's spell guides Zane to what his heart truly desires even if he doesn't know it yet. That's why Aqua was first. As for Grag's fate, Titania is gonna get creative and he will only die when she permits it. See you next time!**


	8. Last Dinosaur

**Welcome! I've been planning for this chapter for some time. It was the original idea that bloomed into this fic. It wasn't even a full idea, just a frame work. Quick warning, I'm not gonna hide the fact that lions eat or animals. Disney might not show it because it's intended to be family friendly but I'm throwing is some realism to the mix.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 8: Last Dinosaur**

Pride Lands

Zane was watching Aqua as she wheeled about in the air. It had been a few hours and she was a natural at flying. In the back of his mind a voice reminded him that she looked stunning as a snow phoenix. He blushed and pushed the thought aside.

He was perched in a tree that sat in the sea of grass just recovering from a drought. There was trees like this scattered across the savannah. Aqua called out. "Zane! There's locals cornered near the watering hole!" Zane took flight and followed Aqua.

The Watering hole

"can't we talk about this?" Timon the meerkat asks as he cowered behind Pumbaa who had lump on his head from the rock the hyenas dropped on him. The three Hyenas licked their lips as they boxed him in. "Boys, you hear that? He wants to talk about it!" Shenzi the leader said mockingly as her clan members laughed at what she said.

"You see, you made a fool of us." Banzei snarled as he remembered how the warthog had defeated them with a fart of all things. The last one, Ed just laughed crazily. "how shall we eat them?" The leader asked. From above Zane yelled "how about no!" The hyenas scattered and fled after Zane lit their tails on fire.

"We'll get you for this!" Banzei yelled. Timon feeling brave yelled "You better run! You fleabags!" He dusts off his paws as if he was the one to make them flee. Pumbaa groaned and asked "why is there fix birds and three of you?" Timon turned around saying "I'm not sure about birds but there is only one me."

Aqua landed behind him saying "That'd be us. He must be concussed." Timon jumped and spun around as Zane landed next to Aqua. "EEKK! Don't scare me like that!" He said as his heart raced. Zane chuckled. "Thanks for helping us. My name is Timon and this big lug is Pumbaa. What brings you to the Pride Lands other than scaring the thieving fleabags?" Timon said inspecting them.

Aqua answered "I am Aqua and this is Zane. We come seeking the one called Rafiki. Do you know where to find him?" Timon scratches his back and sticks the flea he found into his mouth eating. "I know that name. Hey Pumbaa do we knew a Rafiki?" Pumbaa blinking says "Isn't that Simba's monkey uncle?" With a snap, Timon says "Maybe. Let's ask Simba. Come on!" He gestures for them to follow. Zane and Aqua look at each other then follow.

Pride Rock

As they approached Pride Rock a hornbill flies down. "Hold it! You can't just bring strangers here! What if they..." He trails off and bows deeply "Your lordship! I didn't know you'd be visiting! And is this loving companion your betrothed?" He said as both Zane and Aqua blushed at the second question. "What do you mean lord?" Zane asked. "Because you have been granted the honor of being the lord of sky. There is some above you but all of feathered kind are yours to command should you need help. Oh! Where my manners? I am Zazu, royal adviser to King Simba." Zazu said.

"great. Another title I don't need." Zane grumbled Aqua patted him reassuringly. "I will take you to King Simba if you want." Zazu offers. They nod and follow him to the king's chamber. Inside they see two lions arguing. "Simba! You have to do something. The hyenas are waltzing into our lands without a care. They need to be driven out!" the lioness yelled. The other lion, sighs and says "Nala. I know. But there is more pressing issues to tackle. For one the underground network hasn't recovered from Scar's rule. Without them, the hyenas will just comeback and we won't know until it's too late."

The lioness, Nala frustrated walks off in a huff. Simba called out "Nala! Wait!" She didn't stop. Simba noticed them. "Zazu, who are these two." Zazu bows "My king. Presenting Lord Zane, lord of the sky, and Lady Aqua, his betrothed." once again they blush but don't deny it making Simba chuckle.

"I am King Simba of Pride Rock. I'd like to help you but as you hear there is hyenas somewhere in the pride lands." "you mean a trio of them consisting of the boss of the clan, a high ranking male and one that just laughs like a loon?" Zane asks. "Yes where are they?" Simba asks "Last I check fleeing in defeat."

Simba relaxed "That's good news. How can I aid you?" "Do you know a Rafiki?" Zane asks hopefully. Simba nods "Yes He lives in a cave at the base of Pride Rock. Right this way."

Pride Rock

Rafiki's Cave

"Took you long enough!" The baboon said laughing. "Were you love birds enjoying each other's company too much to get here on time?" Zane and Aqua blushed atomic red. Rafiki continued "Never mind that. You got here. I will consult the spirits for the answers you seek. No promise." With that they were kicked out of the cave.

Pride Rock

Outside

"what just happened?" Zane asked "Don't mind him. That's how he is." Simba said "You may look around while you wait. I sure that there is someone that needs help." Simba walked off. "lets look around.

A few hours later

peak of Pride Rock

It tuned out that there was a lot of odd jobs to be done. Locating things, helping lift rocks and logs for grubs (as it turned out they tasty as a bird.) and the hardest job of all, watching the cubs. They were paid in munny for their troubles.

"I shear those cubs wan t to make me bald." Zane complained as he preened his wings. "They are cats. They love to chase and pounce things." Aqua says amused. They were on the top of Pride Rock giving them the perfect view. The sound of wood hitting stone made them look.

It was Rafiki. He spoken grimly "I bring sweet and sour news. The earth's body is stolen by the dark puppeteer but the heart and mind rest among graves. The wind's body lies hidden by the waters seal. And the wind's heart sleeps in the sky." Aqua sighed "Thank you Rafiki."

Rafiki nodded but pointed to the horizon. "The hunger approaches from the bones. Defend the king or the land is lost." "what?" Zane asks. WHOOP! "What was that for? !" Zane yells because Rafiki had bopped him on the head with his stick. "The hunger was driven out by you but they are back for revenge."

"The Hyenas!" Zane and Aqua say at the same time in alarm. They rush to Simba as Rafiki left, they hoped he could get help.

An hour later

The battlefield

Zane stood on a rock next to Simba, Aqua, and Zazu. "so we've got about a few dozen lions and a bunch of birds versus an army of 3 thousand hyenas." Zane says trying to stay calm. "That is right My Lord. But with you leading the birds we will win!" Zazu says. Grimly Simba does a speech for the lions.

"You all came here by your own free will. The hyenas have dared to attack our lands. We will drive them. If one of us falls then we will take dozens of them with us!" He roared and his pride roared in agreement. It was Zane's turn to rally the troops.

Taking a calming breathe he called out. "The battle looms. They underestimate us! Use that mistake and send them to the grave or fleeing in defeat!" The birds answered with cheers.

The hyenas started the charge. "ATTACK!" Simba and Zane commanded and the battle begun.

The lions slashed and bit, killing or injuring combatant until they couldn't fight. This plan wouldn't have work if the birds weren't pelting the enemy with rock seeds and nuts. Some uses talons and beaks.

Zane and Aqua blasted magic as the hyenas fought on without caring of those that died.

Ten minutes later

Zane panted. This was getting worse. They didn't stop! They needed a miracle. As if on que a stampede of rhinos and elephants attacked from the flanks scattering the hyenas formation. With hope renewed the defenders surged forth.

Rafiki joined the fray, striking swift and skilled. He was may be old but he's tough as nails. Swiftly as it started, the battle ended. Only 400 hyenas left alive, fleeing to some where easier to steal from. 10 of the lions, 3 rhinos, an elephant, and a third of the birds died. Zane lay on the ground drained physically, mentally, and his magic reserves were tapped. Aqua was just as drained.

The next Morning

Pride Rock

"You are a fine general." Simba tells Zane who wondered how difficult the next steps would be. "I guess. I wonder what sora is doing right now?" Simba pauses then smiles "If I know Sora he's helping others and keeps on smiling."

Rafiki wakes in saying. "go to the magic stump. That is you're step." It took Zane a moment but he started laughing. The magic stump was Merlin! So stuck in his ways that he was like an old stump that is hard to remove.

"I best get going. Thanks for the meat." Zane say going to tell Aqua it was time to leave. The lion cubs pounce on him saying "bye Uncle Zane." Zane sighed they were adorably a pain.

Three hours later

Hollow bastion

Zane and Aqua touch down and a green blur slams into him hugging his leg. "Hello to you too. I've had an interesting time." Zane say fondly. The Cactaur looked up and with widened eye holes it hugs Aqua's leg. "I missed you too." She says patting it's head.

 **Author's Note: From what I saw in the Lion King movie there was a lot of hyenas. They were driven out but would they just let the lions win? No they would wait amassing an army and strike back. The title Lord of the Sky is just a title. It just means that the feathered ones(birds and the like) will be more likely to respect him and listen to what he has to say. Not all birds will care about the title but it's useful at times like on a battlefield. Those who played KH2 know that Zane will heading into another battle and he will confront the murderer of Master Eraqus.**


	9. I Know You

**Welcome! A number of things will be happening this chapter. People will meet, some are reunions , and truths shall be revealed. On the topic of worlds, there will be a lot of them. From Books, games, movies and shows. I will try to make them fit as well as I can and some worlds will be just there then gone but there are worlds that will be revisited at least once. You can tell it will be quite a journey and to think it started as an idea of hyenas being beaten by a bird.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 9: I know You**

Hollow Bastion Market area

"Eureka! I've done it!" Scrooge says holding up a ice cream pop triumphantly. Aqua raises an eyebrow as Zane and the Cactuar guide her to the freezer. Grinning Scrooge hands the three ice cream. "Try it." They try it. Tilting her head Aqua says "It's salty yet sweet?"

"exactly! It's that strange flavor that I love. Just you wait! I'll have a stall selling it for all to enjoy!" Scrooge says delightedly. "Three years! It took me three years to crack the code to make it! I have you to thank for the break through, young man. If you run into this man tell him to to swing by." He hands Zane a picture of a slicked back blonde haired man in a lab coat.

"Who's this?" Zane asks. "Ansem the Wise. He disappeared years ago. Some think he died but he's alive somewhere. I can feel it in my bones." Scrooge explains. "We'll keep an eye out for him." Zane says.

Merlin's house

Zane peeked in the house frowning. "Where is everyone?" He thought out loud. Merlin walks in. "You just missed them. They are past the bailey, go through the fence and keep going to the building over there. Enter it and find the door. It's a little bit of a maze but not to hard to navigate." Merlin pauses then adds "Come back because I have a letter for you. I'm looking for it right now." He starts to rummage through stacks of papers.

Ansem's Study

It took them about an hour to get to the study with heartless and the maze delaying them for a little bit. They were greeted by the sight of a messy study with a doorway leading to a lab and a cloaked mouse. Venturing a guess Zane asked "Mickey?" The mouse turns and shushes them before crying out "AQUA? ! Is that you?" Mickey rubs his eyes before smiling.

Aqua smiles back saying "It's good to see you again. It's all thanks to Zane that I got out." Mickey nods saying "Good, my hint reached him." Zane counted to five in his mind before asking "Why didn't you just tell me more clearly?" Shaking his head Mickey answered "too many prying eyes and ears. Any luck on the others?"

Zane and Aqua slump. "No. all we know is that Terra's 'heart and mind lies among the graves'. Whatever that means." Mickey snaps his fingers "I bet that means the Keyblade Graveyard. What troubles me is that his body isn't there. What you said implies that his body is stolen or lost. It complicates things. What of Ventus?"

"He's resting is a place only I can reach. At least his body is. His heart is safe some where else." Aqua answers sighing." Zane has a far off look as he sees some one walking to a room at the end of a corridor. With it was the words 'Chamber of Repose' and seven passwords.

Blinking he wakes to the lab as Aqua and Mickey talked to each other.

The lab

Zane walked to the computer and started typing the words from his vision. "Please enter password' the computer chimed. He entered the passwords. The door to his right opened revealing a lift. He takes the left and enters the Heartless forgery. The floor opens as stairs appear. "I hope this isn't a trap." He mumbles to himself. As he enters the floor closes.

Before him was a long spiraling ramp. Seeing that the stairs had vanished, he pressed on sighing. When finally got to the bottom he sew the hallways of cells. He peeked through the bared window and grimaced at the clawed walls and the smell of death. This was a graveyard of experiments of some kind.

He entered the door at the end of the hall and sew a keyblade and armor laying on the floor. Smiling to himself he picked it up and snickered when the keyblade vanished with a flash. "Aqua will be surprised." All he had to do is get this armor fixed up. Maybe the moogles could do it.

With Aqua

Aqua yelped when her old keyblade flashed into her hand. "Where did this come from? I left this with Terra's body." Mickey thinks "Maybe it was found?" "AQUA?" A voice cried as a blue creature scrambled into the room a long the ceiling. "626?" Aqua asks as he drops into her arms.

Pointing to himself "Me Stitch. Friend Aqua back?" Smiling she answers "Hello Stitch. Yes I'm back." Sora and the gang walk in at that moment. And Donald tries to attack Stitch but is held back as Stitch blows a raspberry.

"Donald! We need to find the password. Remember?" Goofy says and Donald looks away crossing his arms. Aqua frowns and tells Stitch sternly "I hope you plan to help them after you caused them trouble." stitch salutes and throws Sora a charm. He runs off.

"Is that you King mickey?" Sora asks and gets shushed "Not so loud."

With Zane

He exited the lift and seated into the lab. He had put the armor in his bag of holding. He marveled at the fact that even the armor didn't weight it down. The pace shook, causing Zane to rush outside. It was chaos. Heartless and Nobodies were invading and fighting everyone including each other.

A horned woman and fat dog person were commanding the Heartless to attack the nobodies. Zane ran up to them as Aqua looked at them were weapon in hand. "DO you know them Aqua?" The Horn woman looked at them before saying. "You meddlesome girl I remember. Fear not, you are not in my way this time." The dog on the other hand yelled "What are you doing here? !" He looks closer "And why do you look like you haven't aged sense I last sew you?" "I'd say it's good to see you Pete but that'd be a lie. Why are you with Maleficent?" Aqua asked tensely Pete proudly said "She's my boss."

Zane followed the conversion then asked Maleficent "Not to be rude but are you a fae?" Maleficent's lips curled into a slight smirk. "I see you have some knowledge. Yes I am. Have you met other fae?" Zane nodded and said "I've met a handful but the King and Queen are the most notable that I've met."

Maleficent scanned his face for a lie "yes you have their mark on you. We shall see how long you last." They deport to take out more Nobodies. "That was tense." Zane says as Aqua finishes off the left over enemies. "We need to find the leaders. We'll split up and meet up later." She says and they part ways.

Hollow bastion Bailey

Zane runs to the battle pausing to see a nobody fading away. "Here to mock me? Better do it fast." Zane sees what weapon he had, a sitar. "How about a music battle?" Zane asks prepping his interments. The nobody smiles and pushes himself up. "Sure. One last jam sounds fun. Name's Demyx." "Zane."

What happened next was weird. Two enemies playing 'Devil went down to Georgia' with out a care save for the music.

After the song ended Demyx collapsed "Thanks man. Maybe we can do that again." He faded away completely smiling sadly. Zane sighed "He not too bad for a Nobody." He rushed forward and started to plays ruffs blasting enemies with pillars of fire as he advanced.

The Great Mew

Zane caught up to Aqua who was standing on a rig. The Nobody leader was just revealed to be Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas. It was then it all clicked. "You killed Master Eraqus!" Zane roared and the leader just grinned smugly "Well. If it isn't then humble warrior. Yes I killed him. He was in my way." His smug look faltered when he sew Aqua.

"I see that you muddled with my plans. Even if you freed her. It will only help my plans." He entered a corridor of darkness and King Mickey jumped in after him. Zane growled angrily before grinned savagely at the heartless surrounding them. "Looks like we've got some punching bags." He vented all his anger and sadness into his attacks whipping out heartless by the thousands as the others fought to defend the world.

With Cid

Cid was in a tight spot. The heartless were persistent, His trusty spear was killing them fast but he must be a little rusty. A Morning Star Heartless was about to body slam him was Zane smashed it flying. It slammed into a group of heartless like a bowling ball. "You better watch yourself old man. It's too early for you to retire." Zane said grinning.

Cid growled and retorted "Don't get cocky. I'm not that old!" They teamed up killing heartless and sending insults at each other grinning. That was their way of bonding. At one point a pillar of light shoots up. "Don't slack off brat!" Cid said stabbing past Zane's head saving him from an attack. "The same could be said of you" He throws back blowing up 5 enemies at once.

After the invasion

Merlin's House

Zane sat as Aqua bandaged him up. "I'd use magic but that's needed for the people who need it more. You only got scratches and bruises so this will be enough." She says then kisses him on the cheek They blush and she rushes off.

"So you are an item?" Cid asks grinning. He too was bandaged. Zane sighed dreamily "Not yet. I just don't know how to say it to her face." Cid sighs "At this right you will be older than Merlin before you stop dancing around the subject. Just tell her." He throws and envelope at Zane.

Zane looked it over. It had his name on it and the wax seal was two lines crossing in the bottom left corner of it. Opening it up he read out loud.

'Master Zane,

You have been chosen to enter in a chance of a life time. You may bring two guests with you. Hope to see you here.

Master Hand'

A map was on the back of the letter. Cid grins and says "here's your chance to take her out on a date." Zane looks away but nods. He leans back and goes to sleep. The day had been stressful.

 **Author's Note: as you can tell, fight scenes are not my strong suit. Anyways, Zane's off to the Smash brothers world. See you next time!**


	10. Come Down

**Welcome! This will be a longer chapter than I normally do. In this chapter they get to the Super Smash Bro's world but before they get there they run into a roadblock. What delays them? Read to find out. There's also a grim reveal here too.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 10: Come Down**

Hollow Bastion

"With this payment you have 300,000 munny remaining. Don't worry about interest. After the help you gave in the invasion they decided that you didn't have to pay for that." Scrooge says pocketing the munny that Zane gave him. Zane nods "Yeah I've got a possible fortune in the waiting if I play my cards right."

Scrooge chuckles saying "You remind me of myself when I was amassing my fortune." He has a far off look. "You should have seen the Money Bin. Too bad it's lost with my world. If you find it let me know." Zane laughs "No problem. I'm still looking for my world if it's possible."

As Zane walked off Scrooge wondered if he should tell him of the old legend that predated the keyblade war.

The Moogle floated to Aqua as Zane approached her. "Repairs are done thank you for choosing ours services." Aqua puts on the armor piece. "Ready to go?" Zane asked as Aqua activates her armor and off they go.

Deep Space

three hours later

Zane hit the brakes and Aqua flow over to him on her Keyblade Glider. "Are you seeing this?" Zane asks staring at the ruined gummiships that drifted among asteroids. "This is the right way, right?" Zane nods and they enter the gummiship graveyard as a something big stalks them from it's depths.

Gummiship graveyard(I made this location up.)

3 hours later

"On one hand, there is a ton of loot. On the other hand there is no bodies, which is weird. What worries me is that all the ships were destroyed the same way. Blunt force trauma and heat damage." Zane says as he points to the dented and melted gummi ships.

Aqua looks up and blasts a Gummi Copter (a heartless that look like a helicopter). Zane frowns "That couldn't have been responsible for this." He pales as dozens of Gummi Copter come out of the woodwork. "Ok maybe they are."

Despite their numbers the heartless were wiped out with little difficulty. "Is it just me or did you see that shadow?" Zane asks Aqua as they rested and grabbed the loot. "No I think that they are the scouts or at least the front liners." Aqua says downing a hi potion.

The objects around them are batted away as a giant purple dog like gummi ship comes into view. It was known as the Gummi Hound. "Is that a heartless ship?" Aqua says when she sees heartless in the cockpits on the paws and head. "That has to be the thing that attacked the ships. We better take it out." Zane readies his weapon.

They strike hard and fast. Striking joints and the cockpits as it swung at them. It began spitting out car sized fireballs at them as it started to spark. Zane lands next to Aqua and they meet eyes. Nodding they use gravity to sandwich the hound between two massive asteroids. It explodes as gummi blocks fly everywhere.

"I think that we've got one last gummi ship wreck to check." They enter the gummi ship and find a large chest floating in the back of the ship. "And the jackpot is...blueprints?" Zane says. Indeed it was filled to the brim with blueprints. Zane unrolls one. "Looks to be plans for a gummi ship. One made of more weapons than anything else. Clearly it was designed by someone that didn't plan to get hit at all." He rolls it back up and puts the blue prints away for Cid to look at.

As they leave the graveyard, Aqua asks "how long do you think the heartless have been there? The sheer number of gummi ships in the area point to the fact it's been here for decades at least." Zane nods "I found a ships log that talks about the Master of Masters. I'm betting it's from before the Keyblade war at least."

Aqua asks "How many ships logs did you find?" "About 286 give or take. Mainly from the older ships. " Zane says after doing the math.

Smash world

2 hours later

Consulting the map, Zane looked at the world. It was more like a rift leading to many worlds connected and at the center was a grand mansion. "This is the place. Ladies first." He says putting the map away and letting Aqua go in first.

As they land at the mansion they saw that it was a mega mansion(Has to be at least 20,000 square feet.). Zane knocks on the door. "state your name and reason for being here" the intercom states crackling to life. "I'm Master Zane. I was invited. Here's the letter." He hold up the letter to the camera.

The intercom goes silent for five minutes then the door opens. "Well get in here." a fat penguin says "My name is King Dedede and I'm to take you to the boss. So don't lag behind." They walk up stairs and make several turns as they pass by interesting people that Zane knew. Pikachu, Mario, Mewtwo, the Ice climbers and a cardboard box that Snake had to be under just to name a few.

"here we are." King Dedede opens the door and shoves them in before walking off mumbling about how the kitchen was too far off in his opinion. "Welcome!" a giant gloved right hand says "BROTHER! Is this the next combatant for roster?" A left hand that looked like the first interrupted as it's fingers moved erratically. The Right hand knocked the second hand out of the room and closed the door.

"Sorry about that. I am Master Hand. That was my brother Crazy Hand. Sometimes I wonder if he's adopted." He shuffles some papers "You have your opening match in three days. Meet the others and maybe you can get some info on your possible opponent. Before I forget, read this rule book and don't lose it." Master Hand tosses Zane a leather bound book with the same emblem that was on the letter embossed on the front.

Zane bows and they leave the office. Crazy Hand was no where in sight when they left and they had no idea where to go so they picked a hallway and walked it.

Ten minutes later

"HI!" A pink blob said waving at them. Zane waved back and asked "Kirby could you helps us find a place to rest our feet?" Kirby tilts his head adorably before grinning and dragged them off.

Smash Mansion

The kitchens

Kirby sat them down on stools next to King Dedede, who was stuffing his face currently. Kirby puts on a chef's hat and gets to work. With a flurry of moves, Kirby places a pair of tuna subs in front of them and a bowl of ice cream off to the side. "GE KA!" Cactuar cries happily as it jumps out of Zane's bag and grabs the bowl of ice cream.

King Dedede starts to choke on the turkey leg and coughs as he dislodges it. "Don't do that when I'm eating you plant!" He warns brandishing his hammer. The cactuar just blows a raspberry and starts to eat. Grumbling Dedede resumes eating.

The subs were great. "Thanks Kirby." Aqua says and Zane was too busy eating to talk. Kirby beamed and started to cook more food as more people entered. Pit walked in with Lady Palutena, Viridi and Dark Pit joining him.

"Well this is interesting. Hello plant." Viridi says looking at the Cactuar. The cactuar makes sounds and she nods looking at Zane and Aqua "Yeah they are perfect together, not that I care about humans." She says off hand.

Aqua was talking to Lady Palutena about things leaving Zane to greet the two Pits. "So. I'm Zane. And You are Pit and Dark Pit. How's the weather?" He says trying to get the conversation off the ground. "Not bad. The garden needs some watering but the sun wasn't to hot." Pit says. "Sure the weather's nice but I'm annoyed that we have to wait for some new fighter. Not you, someone else. We just got the eight inklings but the boss said there was at least one more. Hope he or she's not as ditsy as Daisy is." Dark Pit says crossly polishing off a dozen apples loudly.

"Really? That's news to me. How big is this place?" Zane asked "Lets see. There is 500 bedrooms, 100 bathrooms, several gardens, ten meeting rooms that can house a hundred people easily. There's more rooms but I can't remember them all. That better than what Pit remembers." Dark Pit says "HEY!" "Just last week he got so lost we didn't find him for three days. He somehow found an unknown shortcut to basement and was locked down there. Only reason he was found was because it was laundry day."

Zane and Dark Pit laugh and Pit looks annoyed. "Um where did the cactus go?" Pit asks. "Don't worry Cactuar knows not to get in trouble." Zane says off hand.

With Cactuar

Cactuar had an indoor track field where Sonic was talking to Tails. The Cactuar zooms over to Sonic and whistles a challenge. "Sonic. You know what Master Hand said. 'No going full speed in the mansion'" Tails warned. "Relax Tails. This will be a breeze." They get ready at the starting line and run as Tails said "On your mark. Get set. GO!"

Despite Cactuar's speed being high, Sonic was still faster. The race was over in moment. Cactuar pouted with crossed arms. "Sonic. Give some encouragement. Even if you won show some sportsmanship." Tails told Sonic seeing the Cactuar's expression. Sighing Sonic said "You did pretty good. Your are the fastest plant I've ever race." Cactuar whooped with joy and ran off. "That is one weird plant." Sonic says shaking his head.

10 minutes later

Cactuar zooms past room after room before coming to a stop at a training room where a spiky haired man with a giant sword was slicing up punching bags and a dark skinned man was coaching a boxer. Cactaur watches the boxer intently.

Seeing a punching bag, Cactuar tries to punch it but gets sent flying as it swings back. The coach laughs "would you look at that! Even Plants are trying to box!" Cactuar angrily cries out shaking an arm at the punching bag. The coach says "Plant! If you want I can give you some pointers." Little Mac looked at the Cactuar with interest.

Cloud looks and asks "What's a Cactuar doing here?" "Cactuar? Is that what is? Know anything else about them?" Doc, Little Mac's coach asks. Cloud nods saying softly. "They are fast and use needles to fight." Doc rubs his chin "I can work with that. So what do ya say?" Cactuar salutes and goes back to the bag. "The first thing to learn is how to throw a punch right and have a good stance."

Cloud goes back to his training with as amused smile. He'd have to tell Cid about this. Cid didn't like those creatures, so hearing about a boxing one would cause an amusing reaction.

Back with Zane

Zane was on a mission. What was that mission? To get autographs from everyone. He got lost quite quickly. "Where am I?" Zane said out loud to himself. "West wing third floor meditation room" A voice said behind Zane as he jumped. Whirling around he saw that it was the Wii Fit Trainer. "Hello. I'm Zane. I hope this isn't an odd question but would you sign this?" He offers up the autograph book and a pen.

She takes it and signs. "Lucario and Mewtwo are willing to sign if you ask, you know?" She says. "That'd be great!" Zane nods. They enter the room. The book and pen float and the pen writes itself before they float to Lucario who signs and goes back to meditation. "It's nice to meet you. we'll talk more when we aren't meditating" Mewtwo said in Zane head. Zane bowed and grabbed the book leaving the room.

A few turns and sets of stairs later

Zane entered a forested area as some pokemon relaxed in the shade. Zane cleared his throat and froze as Greninja appeared behind him. Swiftly Zane's book was signed and returned. Zane was pointed off to where the next person on his list was.

An hour later

Zane carefully knocked on the door. "WHAT? !" the door swung open and Bowser glared at him. "Um. Can I have your autograph?" Bowser blinks. He grabs the book signing it then throwing it back, slams the door in Zane's face.

"That was a close one." Bowser Jr says "Don't worry Dad's just in a bad mood because Mario and Luigi beat him in a timed match earlier today." Zane nodded understanding the statement. Bowser Jr had stolen the book 20 minutes ago and the returned it signed by him as his siblings after a game of tag.

"So. Is Gannondorf in a bad mood?" Zane asks. Bowser Jr thinks about it. "No he's in a good mood. He beat all three links, Zelda, Samus, Mewtwo, and Wii Fit Trainer in an eight way stock battle. He swept them with his final smash. It was fun to watch. So what names are you lacking?" Zane checks his list. "Sonic, Tails, Cloud, Little Mac, Ganondorf, Mr. Game and Watch, Samus, Megaman, Bayonetta, Peach, Daisy, Meta Knight, Snake, Ryu, and Wario." Zane shudders at the last name. Zane liked Wario but it was the smell he was shuddering from.

As if on cue, a wave of garlic hit them. "Someone say Wario?" Wario said forcing Zane and Bowser Jr to put on a gas mask. Wario just laughed at the sight. "Wario sign if you give Wario some coin." He says rubbing his fingers together greedily.

Zane rolled his eyes and handed over a fist sized ruby. Wario inspects it then signs the book. "Wario thanks you." He kisses the ruby and walks away. "why did you have a ruby that big on hand?" Bowser Jr asks "Found it in a ship graveyard." With starry eyes, The kid koopa asks "Was there a monster?" Zane chuckles and recounts the battle in the graveyard as Bowser Jr guides him to the next closest person on the list.

Bowser, who peeked out of his room after the greedy garlic gobbling fat man's smell entered his room, watched as his son walked away enjoying the story. Maybe the new guy wasn't so bad. He'd give him a chance but only because he entertained his son. Closing his door as he left his room, he walked to the bar. Rodin served good drinks.

20 minutes later

"Hey Sonic! Zane wants your autograph! Yours too Tails." Jr yells as they enter the track field. "Sure." Sonic zooms past Zane then back to Tails handing him the book. As Tails signs it Sonic asks "Do you know a fast plant? It shows promise but not enough to beat me." Zane sighs amused "Figures Cactuar would challenge you. Did you see where that troublemaker went?" Tails returned the book saying "No but I'm sure you'll run into each other."

a few hallways later they run into the walking shadow and blue bomber. "Hello. You new?" Megaman asks signing the book and Mr. Game and Watch does the same. Zane sheepishly says "Yeah. Got a match in three days, don't know who I'm up against." "Best of luck." Megaman says as they part ways.

As they turn the corner Snake puts Zane in a choke hold. "Who are you? !" Snake growls in his ear. Zane couldn't answer as Snake continued "The only records of you are very old. How are you here if you lived 30,000 years ago?" Zane breaks out of the choke hold. "What do you mean 30,000 year old records? I left my home world a year ago at most."

Snake handed him a data pad. "around 29,894 years ago the world was destroyed by unknown means. Later the fragments formed into worlds that came together to form Daybreak town, a world made of other worlds joined together.(This isn't cannon save for the fact that Daybreak Town is a vast world made of many worlds.) Then the keyblade war happened scattering the worlds again." Snake explained as Zane looked at a missing poster with his face on it and the age of the paper.

"That's impossible! How did I time travel so far forward?" Pausing he said "Unless. Yes more speed means time slows down for the object traveling compared everything else." "That true but you'd need to go quite fast." Snake says. "My Moped can go quite fast but I think that it was boosted the first time I used because it was much faster than when I used it again."

Snake took the data pad back and signs Zane's book. "Sorry about that. I don't like unknown elements in a mission." "No problem Snake." Zane sounded hollow as he realized that his world was gone. Snake whispered something to Bowser Jr and jumped into a vent. Jr guided Zane off to someone that would understand his current problem and help him.

25 minutes later

Zane sat down his tea. "What am I to do? I know I have things to find but finding my world was my main goal." Ryu and Meta Knight listen to him. "Perhaps you are going about it all wrong. You lost your old home but home is where the heart is. Is it not?" Ryu says sipping his tea calmly.

"the star warrior home world was destroyed in the war against Nightmare. Yet, like Kirby, I found a home in the kingdom of Dream Land. (this is cannon for the Kirby universe.)Just give life a chance and you may find a new place to call home if you haven't already." Meta Knight stated.

Zane sat there a thought about the adventures he's had and the people he's bonded with. Slowing a soft smile appeared on his face. "My mom always told me to branch out. I don't think she meant it like this." They chuckle. Ryu smirks "I think that you have a home with Aqua if I'm right about how you feel about her."

Zane sighs lovingly. "She is a wonderful person. Did you know she was the one that healed me up when I trained." Zane chuckles " the first few months were painful for me. After training each day I'd be carried to bed and she'd labor away with healing magic. I fear she drained herself dry each day" "Sounds like you got a good friend if she goes that far to heal you." Ryu comment.

With Aqua

Aqua sat a table in a garden enjoying a tea party with Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina. "I'm worried for Zane. He goes off and gets into so much trouble. Some times trouble actively finds him. With what you told me about some of the fighters here, I'm worried that he'll be attacked." Aqua confesses looking at her tea.

"Don't worry dear. In the rules it says that you can't fight or harm anyone unless it's in a match. No one has broken the rule yet but Master Hand says that Crazy Hand is the one to administer the punishment if it happens." Peach says.

"Indeed. Tell me, do you love him?" Rosalina asks already knowing the answer. Aqua smiles wistfully "Yes. I love him with all my heart. He's got his faults like his trouble magnetism but he'd stubborn in a good way. He kept on throwing himself into training even as Terra and I had to carry him to bed." They giggle at this. "I admit that I healed him every night out of kindness at first. But after some time it was because I didn't want to see him hurt. You know what I mean?" Aqua asks.

They nod at this. "I met him earlier today. He asked for autographs from me and Luma." The star creature in her laps smiled. Aqua giggled "That book is gonna be filled in no time. Any news about Cactuar? Looks like a walking cactus?" They pause and Daisy says "I think I saw it being coached about boxing with Little Mac and his trainer."

They start laughing and then they talk about random topics without a care in the world.

With Zane

Zane walked down the halls thinking about things when he almost ran into Ganondorf "I heard on the grape vine that an interesting fighter was asking for autographs. I'll help myself." Zane watches as Ganondorf signs the book and walks off whistling cheerfully. "He's in quite a good mood." He looks in the book and laughs because Ganondorf did a Hancock and signed much bigger than the Links, Zelda, and Midna did.

As he passes by the bar he sees some people he's looking for. So he enters. "welcome to the Gates of Hell. The finest bar you'll find." Rodin says polishing a glass. Bowser and Bayonetta look up from their drinks. "Well, do you plan to pay in gems?" Bayonetta asks amused. Zane sets down and orders a strawberry sunrise. "I did that because it was Wario. You know how he is." They snort that this. Wario's greed was as legendary as his love of smelly garlic.

Bowser hesitantly says "About earlier. You caught me in a bad mood and I'd like to give you another chance. Don't tell anyone I said that. It's mainly because you are 'cool' to my son. Keep telling him stories and playing tag and you'll stay on my good side." Zane nods and Bayonetta laughs "Well done. You got the Koopa King to give you a chance. That is quite a feat. So about the autographs." He wordlessly hands it over and she signs with a flourish and kisses it.

Zane sighs "That will be annoying to explain." "Why's that? Am I not good enough for you?" She asks teasingly passing the book for Rodin to sign. "Kid's got a girlfriend if my info is right. A blue hair lady will combat skills to match her beauty." Rodin says grinning Zane slams his head down groaning.

"Well. Treat her well, tough guy." Bayonetta says teasingly with an edge of steel. Zane sips his drink as she leaves the bar. "Is she always like that?" Rodin doesn't even hesitate to say "She's worse than this normally." Zane asks "I heard you can craft things." Rodin says "for a price. What do you need made?"

Zane looks and Bowser and Rodin and says "Don't tell anyone but I'd like some rings made. Engagement and wedding bands." Rodin smirks "Too easy. I can made those ring with ease. In fact I'll do it at a discounted price if you give me the materials."

Zane smiled that he explained some ideas he had for the ring with Bowser helping him by telling some things to avoid.

With Aqua

A few hours later.

Bayonetta had dropped by and told Aqua and the other tea party guests how he bribed Wario. "Why do they keep him around if he smells that bad?" Aqua asks confused. Daisy pulls out a gas mask. "He earned his place here so Master Hand gave everyone a mask when he's around. That and Crazy Hand randomly drops him in a vat of anti-smell perfume from time to time."

"By the way. Zane wants you ladies to help him with some thing. Aqua why don't we go check on the cactus boxer." Bayonetta says guiding Aqua away.

10 minutes later

Aqua reached the training room quickly and Bayonetta departed saying she had somethings to do. In the room she had to laugh because Cactuar looked adorable with shorts and red boxing gloves on. "You may laugh now but this cactus will be a trained boxed in no time!" Doc boasts proudly.

"sorry for laughing but I'm imagining what the opponents faces looked up when a foot tall cactus tkos them with an uppercut to the chin." This got Doc, Little Mac, and Cloud laughing. "that will be the day." He looks at the time. "There's a meeting in an hour. The new fighter will be revealed. Can't be late."

With Zane

As Zane walked to the meeting he ended up walking with Samus. "Hello there. Would it be rude if I asked from your autograph. You were the first person I wanted to get but I got side tracked." "sure. I have a bad feeling about the meeting." She says and signs the book. "An 'end of the world' Bad or a 'someone triggers the sprinkler system' Bad?" Zane asks.

" not as bad as end of the world but higher than the other one." She answers as they enter the meeting room

The Meeting Room

"Fighters it is time for the new comer to be revealed." Master Hand say and Samus freezes. Ridley enters the room and grins savagely at her. "We meet again." With a roar, Samus charges up her blaster. Zane deflects the chargeshot upward as Crazy Hand carries Samus to cool off before she harms someone. "That was expected." Master Hand says as the sprinklers drenches them.

"This will be a tense week." Master Hand says resigned. Zane catches up to Ridly. "What do you want, Lord of the Sky?" Ridley said with only the tiniest bit of respect. Taking a breath Zane asks "Would please sign this. As much as I dislike what you've done in life, I still respect you for your skills."

Ridley looks at him for a full minute before signing and stalking off to his room smugly. He had won this round against Samus. He couldn't kill her but beating her time and time again was a nice consolation prize.

Later that night

Zane and Aqua entered their room and saw there was only one bed. They crawled into bed and slept soundly knowing that they were safe here.

Unknown location

Zane was standing in a fog bound forest high up in the trees. There was pathways crisscrossing as they lead to the depths of the mist. "where is this?" Zane asks wondering if he was kidnapped. Two figures walks from the mist.

Zane stared. "how are you here? You're dead." Standing before him was his parents. Zane rushes over and hugs them. The return the hug and hold that moment for a few minutes. Breaking away from the hug they sit down on the giant knots that were big enough to be used as seats.

"You could say that this is a place where the living can meet the dead easier." His mother explained smiling sadly. Zane took that in as she continued "this place is not reachable by the body, only the soul. We waited many years. You disappeared off the face of the earth."

Zane looked away. "Yeah. That wasn't my plan after I stormed off a year prier. We fought over the fact I didn't plan to go to college like you wanted. You insisted that I go because I finished high school two years early, High Honors too." Zane said regretting the way they parted.

His father chuckled "I died because of heart disease three year before that. Better late than never but congrats son." He pats Zane on the back. He turns to his wife and says "You got to see the end of the world. I'm so jealous." His wife swots him upside the head. Zane just smiled nostalgically. They were like that all the time. His dad would make a comment to lighten the mood and get swotted for doing it at a bad time.

"I hear you found someone you want to marry?" His mother asks knowingly. Zane nods shyly "Too bad the family rings were lost. I would have given them to you for when you needed them. Before you ask how the world ended, It was a single moment. Everything vanished in a great flash of light coming from the earth. Who knows what happened afterwards." She said shrugging.

Zane leaned back "At least it was a quick death. I'm sorry for the grief I cause you." His mother shake her head. "Honey, if I let you vanishing stop me then I'd never been able to deal with your father's habit of getting lost for weeks and coming back with souvenirs from where ever he ended up."

His father pouted "Hey! It's not my fault that my looks get me kidnapped constantly." that earned him another swot. "before you wake we have a few more things to say. You have our blessing to marry her. And live your life. Don't let the past chain you down." As the mist starts to roll in she yells "I want grandbabies!"

Smash Mansion

The next morning

Zane shot up blushing. Why did parents have to embarrass their kids like that? He turns to see Aqua still asleep and looks at the time. Six o clock, not too early but he'd let her sleep in. He got out of bed and got dressed. Sneaking out of the room he noticed that Cactuar was not in the room. "must be training" He says under his breath as he head to the kitchen.

Smash Mansion

Kitchen

That was a few early raisers. Cloud, Ganondorf, and Mewtwo were still eating. The others were somewhere else or still sleeping. Kirby was cooking breakfast. "Hey guys." Zane say sitting down as Kirby gave him a full English breakfast.

"You seem lighter" Ganondorf says Zane shrugs "Would you believe me if I said my dead parents visited my dreams?" Ganondorf snorts "Kid. After dealing with the people here, the dead talking to you is tame. Anyways, I hope it was good visit."

"Yeah. They had somethings to clear up and give their ok to my plan." Bowser looks up at this. "Really? That's good. You going to do it later today?" He asks and Zane nods. Cloud and Ganondorf looked clueless but Mewtwo smirked knowingly.

Zane smiled as he ate. He had no idea what she'd say but he'd try.

Smash Mansion

Music Room

mid day

Aqua entered the music room and was guided to the front row of seats that were set up. The instruments were put away and a stage was set up with a piano ready to be played. As everyone was seated, Zane walked on stage in a tux. He sits down and begins to play and sing.

* listen to 'Wish my life away' by Laura Shigihara if you want*

Aqua was moved by the sad yet hopeful song. When Zane finish he bowed to the clapping crowd. He walked up to Aqua and said "We have known each other for only a few year but I feel like it's been eternity." He goes on one knee and opens a ring box saying "Will you take this ring as a promise to marry me one day?" Aqua yelled yes and throw her arms around him.

The fighters cheer loudly as Zane and Aqua share a passionate kiss.

Smash Mansion

garden area

an hour later

Aqua sat with Peach, Daisy, Rosalina and Luma having tea. She admired the engagement ring on her finger. It was a simple band of oricalcum with a tear drop shaped sapphire set in it. It was simple but elegant.

"He is so romantic." Peach says sighing. "Yeah, but where did he get the rings?" Daisy asked. "Looks like Rodin's work." Rosalina says inspecting it. "He normally does weapons but he leaves a maker's mark in his work" They look closely and spot a tiny 'r' with a halo hanging off it in the depths of the gem.

Aqua shakes her head. "He was acting odd today but I didn't pay any mind to it. I guess he surprised me good." They giggle and talk about this and that. In the shadows of the garden Bayonetta and Rodin were standing out of sight.

"Kid pulled it off good." Rodin says. Bayonetta leans in and asks "So what's your fee? You don't do things for free." Rodin chuckles "You know me well. It was a special request, so he owns me a favor or two." Bayonetta raises an eyebrow "That's all? Are you going soft?" Rodin shakes his head laughing "No but if the rumors are true he's got powerful allies." "oh. Like who?" "The fairy queen." Bayonetta laughs "He's both lucky and unlucky to have her as an ally."

Later that day

Master Hand's office

"What do you mean I'm testing to see if a boss is fair? !" Zane yelled as Master Hand just watched silently. "I learned tips and tricks how to beat the other fighters and it was pointless?" Master Handed this question "Not pointless in the long run. Think of the match as a type of hazing the newbie. You won't get killed and you get to show your stuff. By the way, your final smash has been approved."

Zane sighed and said "this will match will be recorded and kept to show off to the future, right?" "Naturally."

battlefield

The Next day

Zane looked at the battlefield. It was a wide area with some grass, rocks, and a pillar or two. In the background were mountains. Zane heard a roar as the dragon flew in low almost clipping him. It landed and roared a challenge. "A Rathalos? !" Zane stammered with a little dread.

The Rathalos was the flagship creature of Monster Hunter. It is a red wyvern that attacked with claws, teeth, and shot exploding fireballs. It preferred to attack from the air and it wasn't afraid to use it's tail.

In the stands

Aqua gripped the railing as she planned how to break Master Hand's non existent face if things go badly. King Dedede wisely leaned away as an aura of doom radiates from her. The railing starts to bend and groan as her grip tightened with each hit Zane takes.

"He'll win, right dad?" Bowser Jr asks his dad. Bowser, who doesn't take his eyes from the match, answers "He's going to fight to the end no matter what." Bowser Jr smiles at this and waves a flag the had Zane's symbol, a flaming guitar, on it.

Back to the match

Zane jumped as the beast flew in low again. It was an annoying beast yet fun because Zane had fought it in the games so many times. Now he got the chance to beat in real life, hopefully in one try. He was a 126% and the boss was a 45% health left. So he had to be careful.

The smash ball appeared and Zane grabbed it as the boss shot a trio of fireballs. "Time to return fire." Zane actived his final smash. He vanished from view and dived as a bird engulfed in a giant flaming bird silhouette. "GLORIOUS IMPACT!" He cried as he hit the boss. The explosion filled the battlefield for a few moments.

In the stands

just before the final smash

"Dad! He's going for it!" Bowser Jr said excitedly. The crowd watched in awe as the explosion almost blinded them. "SO cool! Even the name is cool!" Bowser Jr gushed. Bowser had to admit it had a nice ring to it.

Captain Falcon grinned and clapped as Zane shakily stood triumphantly over the out cold Rathalos. The rookie was good and had style. The crowd cheered as Zane grinned and played a guitar riff. Moments later Aqua gasps as Zane topples over out cold.

Captain Falcon laughs. The rookie had room to grow. If he was hearing Aqua's angry muttering right, the boss was in hot water. Aqua stomped off as everyone got out of her way. The railing she had been gripping looked like a misshapen pretzel.

3 hours later

Infirmary

Zane groaned waking up and found Master Hand in a full body(Or is it hand) cast on the bed to his left. "What happened to him?" He asked Bowser and his son who had a cart of gifts. Bowser chuckled "your girlfriend was not happy and let her displeasure known as painfully as possible. Crazy Hand for once did a smart thing and hid."

Zane winced as his bruises flared up when he moved. He blinked when Bowser Jr thrust a marker and photo of Zane's victory pose at him. "Please sign this! You were so cool. When you did your FS it was awesome! It was so hot, Crazy Hand popped popcorn from just the heat that reached the stands." He continued to gush about the match.

"Can't disappoint a fan. 'to my loyal fan. -Master Zane Lord of the Sky'" Zane handed it back to Bowser Jr hugged him and run off to show his siblings. "The kid's strong. Maybe someday he'll be stronger than you." Zane says jokingly as the pain subsides. Bowser with pride say "The day that happens I'll give him the throne. Here's a token of appreciation from me." He throws Zane a Bowser head Trinket. "It will let to call up my Elite Trio. They may not be the smartest but they are loyal."

Bowser walks off before Zane could thank him. "Well. That was fun. Oh Hello Aqua!" Zane says as Aqua runs to him and checks him over asking him what hurts. Master Hand shakes fearfully when Aqua glares at him. "Aqua, um, I'm sorry I pushed myself too hard again." Zane says sheepishly.

"don't be sorry. You were pitted in an unfavorable match. It's not your fault." Aqua says soothingly helping him into a wheelchair. "Where are we going?" Zane asked "To your victory party. Crazy Hand organized it to make up for the screw up." The way she said it Zane knew that it was a bribe so Aqua didn't beat him up too.

The next morning

The party was a wild one. Lots of drinking, music and food. None of the under age fighters were allowed the harder drinks but the highlight of the night was when the Squid sisters performed. Zane woke the next morning in bed with Aqua. Both of them were fully clothed thankfully.

He clutched his head. He hated hangovers. From what he remembered he drunk everyone under the table but he didn't remember anything after that.

The kitchen

Zane stumbled in and asked Kirby to whip up a cure. Zane downed the cure almost gagging. "Thanks" Doc, little mac's couch sits next to him. "I know your leaving soon but I have a request. I'd like for your cactus buddy to stay and finish training while you are off saving the worlds." Zane said "I'm guessing that Cactuar is ok with this? If so then go ahead. Cactuar's found a passion other than pranks at last. Who am I to take that away?"

 **Author's Note: This was a long one. Let's break down what happened here. Zane met everyone and gained allies friends and a fan. He fought a dragon, and learned a grim truth. Met his parents and Aqua went ballistic. The party has changed, Cactuar is training to be a boxer so they will be unavailable for now, but the Elite Trio from Mario And Luigi Dream Team is the next summon he got. And Zane purposed to Aqua. This isn't the last we've seen this world. The next world isn't decided yet but I have some ideas. See you next time! Ultima-Owner signing out!**


	11. My Foot

**Welcome! I just realized that I didn't clear something up about the last chapter. The boss fight he had was based on the monster hunter games, mainly because SSB Ultimate isn't out yet, so the way the boss fights is vague at best. It will most likely be easier than the MH version which can poison you. With that out of the way, The next world is Disney Castle then Zane will head to an original world with Aqua staying at the castle. If you've watched the Librarians TV show or movies you will know what the world is based on.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my ocs.**

 **Chapter 11: My Foot**

Disney Castle

gummiship landing dock

"You've been taking good care of the engine but from the looks of it, it got hit just right to do this damage." Chip the chipmunk said wiping the grease off his paws. Dale the chipmunk was wearing thick gloves and extracting shrapnel from the moped.

Zane winced remembering the heartless ship that practically vomited dozens of missiles on their way to meet Queen Mini. It was defeated but Zane's moped started spewing black smoke and Aqua had to tow him the rest of the way.

"Is it fixable?" Zane asked worried. "Oh this is easy to fix. Give us a week and it'll be good as new. We'll throw in a shield generator upgrade and some other things for free but it will take an extra week to integrate them." Dale says grunting as he pulls out a shard of metal bigger than him. "On second thought, make that a month. We need to fit it with a stronger metal."

Zane walks away rubbing his temples.

Disney Castle library

One Week later

Zane closed the book and put it in the pile of ones he all ready checked. Another dead end, you'd think that the library would have a book on how to get someone's body back after it is stolen but no luck so far.

"I see that you've been working hard." Daisy duck said as she walked up to where he was seated. Zane sighed and grabbed the books he was done with. "I've read every book here and nothing that I was looking for! Well there was a few recipes that I jotted down." Zane said as he started to re shelve the books.

 **(Spoilers for the Ducktales reboot cartoon)**

Daisy had a sad smile. "You remind me of how Scrooge was when Donald's sister vanished." Zane stopped what he was doing and looked at her. "What happened?" Zane asked. Daisy sighed and said "I don't know much but Della took the Spear of Selene, whatever that is, and never returned."

"Did anyone look for her?" Zane inquired. "Scrooge spent a good chunk of his fortune but no one found her. The board forced him to give up the search for her. After that, Donald and Scrooge parted ways and only talk to each other if they have to." Daisy finished. "How about some tea? You must be hungry after so much reading." Zane didn't comment on how she changed the subject and followed for the tea and food. He'd ask Scrooge what the full story was.

 **(End of spoilers for now)**

Disney Castle

sitting room

around noon

"It's a lovely time for tea, don't ya think?" Queen Mini as she poured Zane, Daisy and Aqua tea. "Lovely your majesty." Aqua says. "Please call me Mini. You are guests not my subjects." Mini said amused. "That's fine with me." Zane said off hand with an apricot tart in hand. He takes a bite, savoring the flavor. "This is wonderfully made. The cooks here are masters of their craft." He compliments.

Mini sets down the tea pot smiling. "I find they tastes better with guests to share them with." Mini says. A walking broom rushes over and sets a letter with King Mickey's symbol on it in front of Mini. Mini opens it and reads it quickly. "That is wonderful news! According to Mickey, Xemnas has been dealt with and The worlds are safe."

Zane sighed with relief. "That's one problem gone. When is Mickey expected to return home?" "In a week. He is visiting his old teacher about something urgent." Mini says happy that her husband would be home soon. "On the topic of husbands, when's the wedding?" Daisy asked slyly. Zane almost chokes and coughs looking away. "Unsure when that will happen. We're only engaged at the moment and we want to wait for things to calm down." Zane explained.

"May I see your ring? Aqua's is lovely but I haven't seen yours." Mini asks serenely. Zane presented his hand and they saw the ring was a matching twin to Aqua's save for two things. Zane's was a thick band and the gem was a ruby in the shape of a flame. "You have nice taste. If these are the engagement rings then the wedding bands will be a sight to behold." Daisy say smirking. "It's as lovely as I expected. Let's drink the tea before it gets cold." Mini says.

Disney Castle

Library

Two Weeks later

Zane wondered how much more crazy stuff was going to happen. The King returned with Donald and Goofy in tow. It was a good time until they digitized a blank book that wasn't blank as it appeared. Fast forward an adventure that a data version of Sora did and that brings us to the present. Maleficent and Pete were holding Queen Mini hostage with the demand being the book.

"Mickey. Just give her the book. It's not worth risking Mini." Zane advised. Pete grinned "Looks like someone can make the right choice. Go on mouse, hand it over!" "Hush fool. This one interests me." Maleficent said staring at him intently. Aqua rushed in at that moment. "What are you doing here? !" Aqua demanded.

Maleficent's mouth thinned at the sight of Aqua. Then her eyes gleamed in like gleeful cat that has cornered it's pray when she noticed the rings they wore. "I shall sweeten the deal. You give me the book and I will give you the hostage. My second demand is that I am invited to their wedding." This surprises them. "Why demand that?" Mickey questioned. Maleficent smiled "I'm sure he knows, don't you Master Zane, Lord of the Sky?"

They look at Zane. "She's talking about the coronation of Aurora. Everyone but her was invited so she cursed the child. The Good Fairies may have saved the child but it was the parents' fault for not inviting her." Zane summarized. Maleficent sneered "Exactly! They brought my wrath down on them! Promise to invite me and I'll tell you the answer to one question. Choose that question wisely." Maleficent grinned knowing she won.

Sighing Mickey handed Zane the book. Before Zane handed it over he asked "My question is 'where can I find a book about restoring a soul to the rightly body after it was stolen?'" Maleficent nodded "That question I know the answer to. The book?" He hands it over. "Look for the Library. When you find it, ask for Galahad." She throws him a scroll "He owes me a boon. Make sure to invite me or else." With that she left and Pete followed.

They relax. "That was an ill advised deal. How do you know that she was telling the truth?" Mickey asked. "She's a fae. She doesn't need to lie to get her way. In the end, we get some answers and no one was hurt." Zane said. "I hope that things work out." Mickey says.

Cornerstone Chamber

5 days later

"Ok that is odd." Zane said looking at the wide rift. "Geronimo!" He jumped in grinning as Donald just stood there questioning his sanity. "I better tell Aqua." He mutters and rushes off.

Keyblade Graveyard

With a thump he landed on his face on a wide plateau. "Need to work on the landings." Zane says to himself. Kneeling was a set of armor holding onto a keyblade sticking into ground. "Ok this a graveyard. And that armor is Terra's." Zane comments. "Xehanort? Xehanort!" The armor yelled standing up and dashing with blade in hand.

*Cue Death's Gambit Ost Endless*

Zane blocked the opening swing and grunted as he was push back a little. "Terra! I know your in there! It's me Zane!" Zane jumped back as the earth spikes up.

"If words won't reach you then perhaps this will." Zane said as he stopped holding back and unleashed a dozen homing fireballs. Only half for them hit but Terra kept fighting. The battle became a chaotic mess of explosions, quakes and lasers as it dragged on.

"You gotten more powerful Terra, but so have I!" Zane cried as they clashed. The world around them warped as memories from the both of them were shared. Places they've been, people they met, sounds they heard, emotions they felt. Nothing was hidden from each other.

As Terra charged his ultimate attack, Zane did the same with tears flowing freely. "I hope this wakes you up! Glorious Impact!" The attacks met and were a stalemate at first but Zane drew from the last of his energy and broke it. He pushed through and won the power struggle. The explosion melted the rocky ground.

*End of the song*

Terra was sprawled out on the ground as Zane rested a foot on his chest plate. "I win." Zane said worn out ready to fall over. Terra laughed his voice echoing from the armor. "That you did. Just so you know that was a fun spar. Thanks for waking me up."

They walk to the portal leaning on each other as they talked out the memories they witnessed as they clashed.

Cornerstone Chamber

20 minutes since Zane entered

When they exited the portal, a cross and worried Aqua was waiting for them, tapping her foot annoyed. "So that was what you were doing. Jumping into an unknown rift and fighting someone to the point where I could here the notices of battle from this side of the rift." Aqua ranted and grabbed them both by the arm dragging them off.

Disney Castle

Gummiship landing dock

Two days later

Aqua had delivered one hell of a dressing down that even King Mickey winced with each word she said. Currently Zane was about to use the scroll to reach the world that the Library resided. It was hidden behind magical barriers, so one needed a 'key' to reach it.

"We upgraded the moped with a better metal alloy, added a radar, a regenerative shield, and a portable communicator." Chip says as Dale points out the features. "As for weapons, we installed a EMP like field that will disable ships and missiles that are within ten feet of you." Aqua hugs Zane and Terra pats him on the shoulder. "You better be more careful." Aqua says. "Good luck finding answers." Terra offers as Zane puts on his helmet that displayed the radar.

Zane opened the scroll and reads the chant. Rings of light cover him and the moped then disappear, leaving a lightly scorched ring behind.

Library Earth

Portland, Oregon

The rings flashed as Zane materialized near a 'welcome to Portland' sign. "I'm on the edge of this port city and I don't know what name Galahad goes by in this day and age." Zane deadpans. He next checks his wallet. "I've got one grand in hundreds, fifties, tens, and one dollar bills. Time to hit the bars and ask around." He drives into town not knowing that it wouldn't be long to find it.

The Library Annex

a few days later

Ezekiel Jones was leaning in a chair when the clipping book glowed. "Guys! The book!" Jacob, Cassandra, and Jenkins join him by the book. "'Mysterious Ring Burned Into The Ground Near Sign. Officers found a perfect circle with a diameter ten feet burned into the ground near the welcome sign. It's suspected to be made by some rowdy teen but some deny that on the bases that it's too perfect to be made by teens.'" Jacob Stone reads.

"Why would a burned circle matter? It's not like it's magical." Ezekiel says. "Mr. Jones. That circle is magically made." Jenkins says paling. "If it's 'her' then 'she' will be coming here." The go anywhere door opens and Flynn and Eve walk in with an ugly statue in hand. "One cursed statue of demonic origins." Flynn says setting it down.

Reading the mood Eve asks "What's the problem?" Jenkins sweats a little "We may be visited by a fae of considerable power." Cassandra asks "what kind of Fae? One of the courts or one not apart of them?" Eve cuts in. "What do you mean courts?" Jenkins answers "There is two major Fae courts. The Seelie and UnSeelie."

"I've got this!" Cassandra says and he lets her take over "The Seelie court is more likely to help in a round about way or just play hopefully harmless pranks. The Unseelie court on the other hand are unlikely to hold back their nasty tricks. The golden rule with fae is not to slight them."

"Well said. But 'she' is not from one of the courts. 'she' calls herself the 'Mistress Of All Evil'" Jenkins answers. "wait! Are you talking about Maleficent from sleeping beauty?" Jacob says. "She's real?" "Very real and very dangerous. That ring is what is left from one of her spells. A teleport spell if I'm not mistaken."

Eve sighs "does she have a grudge on you?" He shakes his head "No. but I owe her a boon and she's here to call it in." Flynn shivers "That's worse than a grudge. We'll look around for her."

Portland, Oregon

Multnomah Whiskey Library(It's a real place)

the next day

"I'll have a bourbon on the rocks" Zane tells the bartender. He got his drink and listened to the things said. You can learn a lot at a pub by listening. One conversion was interesting, they were talking about Maleficent and a Jenkins. Bingo. He finished his drink and pay with a tip.

He walked to the table where Flynn and Eve were talking. "excuse me. I'm looking for someone named Galahad. Do you know where I can find him? I'm cashing in a boon he owes." Zane say casually. They looked alarmed but Flynn said. "Oh I know were he is. He's a friend of ours. Follow us and you'll find him." He mouths to Eve. 'warn them' and She leaves in a hurry.

The Library annex

"Jenkins! She's coming here any minute!" Eve cries as she runs in. "Remember to be polite and don't make deals." Jenkins cations as Zane and Flynn enters. Zane looks at them and stops on Jenkins. I a formal tone he says "Sir Galahad of Camelot, the boon you owe is to be fulfilled this day. Do you honor it?"

Jenkins responses "Name the terms that it is to paid?" Zane closes his eyes and takes a breath. Steeling his nerves he says in the same tone. "I require a book on returning the soul to it's rightful vessel. If you hand it over then the boon you owe is fulfilled." Jenkins solemnly says "I agree to those terms. I shall get it post haste." He enters the Library to retrieve the book.

"So you are Maleficent?" Ezekiel asks in an off hand manner. The other watch with baited breathe. Zane just laughs warmly "You think I'm Maleficent? Not even close." Zane said wiping a tear from his eye. "Wait if you're not Maleficent, then who are you? And how did you make that demand?" Flynn asks mind racing.

"That's easy. He bargained for it." Jenkins says returning with a massive old book. "Time out. What do you mean bargained?" Eve says. Zane answered looking at each page of the book, not missing anything.

"The fae care little for coin and riches. They prefer secrets, knowledge, and boons. Many foolishly lose their freedom by offering boons or favors to the fae without realizing what they are offering." The way he said sent a chill down their spines. "And what did you trade to get it?" Cassandra asks worried. "She's invited to my wedding." Zane says without caring about their incredulous expressions.

"OH! Just like sleeping beauty!" Flynn says in an eureka moment. "You gave her what she was denied of your own free will. Even if it's just a passing fancy, her ego will be sated." Flynn explains. "Pretty much. Ah! Here we are. How to return a soul." Zane muttered and his eyes darted left and right.

He unexpectedly started cursing worse than a sailor vowing to murder Xehanort slowly and painfully as possible.

10 minutes later

Zane had calmed down but was glaring at the wall so hard they expected it to burst into flames. They were trying to decide who was going to ask him why but none of them wanted to be the one to do it. Drawing strews, Cassandra was the 'lucky' one to ask.

She sat in the chair next to him and asks "SO. What caused the string of hate filled words?" Zane did look at her but slumped in his seat. "All that work for nothing because of a technicality!" He yelled slamming his fist on the arm of the chair. "What technicality?" "That backstabbing murdering body snatching scum bucket technically 'own' the stolen body because he came back of from death with it, making it a 'new' body and not stolen. That's what!" He was yelling ringing an imaginary neck.

They wince hearing this. They didn't know the whole story but it didn't sound good. Cassandra gets an idea and does her thing. "Maybe there is a way. If you can't get the body back than make a new one, like a homunculus." Soon as she said that it was as if a fire burning brightly in Zane. He jumped up and started searching the book again.

Library Annex

Three days later

"He's still working?" Eve asks returning from errands. "Three days without rest and only taking breaks when he has to." Jenkins says as they stare at the piles of books and sheets of paper as Zane scribbled something down adding to the pile, replacing it with a blank one.

"SO what do we know about him?" Ezekiel asks munching on a pear. "Well his friend's body was stolen permanently by a backstabbing murdering scum bucket named Xehanort and Zane's really dedicated to get his friend a body." Cassandra says the tamer words Zane used. "We also know he's engaged to be married and ran into Maleficent at some point." Jacob adds. "He must be a good driver on the moped and plays music to some degree." Flynn points out.

There was a thump and a crash as Zane collapses from his seat smiling out cold. Eve checks his pulse. "He's still alive. It's just extreme exhaustion." She says. "We should take the time to check his notes." Ezekiel offers, already looking. They roll their eyes as Eve and Jacob carry Zane off to get sleep.

"Looks like he's researching methods of making a human body. From his notes, most of them are too risky in some way." Flynn says pointing at the tilted hand written notes. "The most recent page says 'dollmaker', 'Halloween' and 'Jack'. Any idea what that means?" "It might be a hidden place and halloween time is when it's accessible. October is a few month away, so he has time if that's the case. As for 'Jack', it's a person's name and 'dollmaker' could be a title." Cassandra reasons

.

"Why is Zane out cold?" Jenkins ask but demands "What are you doing looking at his notes?" not looking sorry at all Ezekiel says "He's got a plan to find a 'dollmaker' that may or may not be name Jack by Halloween time." Sighing Jenkins says "That is vague at best. So let's hope that Zane isn't too angry with you."

"You shouldn't be looking at someone else's stuff you know." a kind yet stern voice said and the wiped around to see a young girl wearing a hood said. Jenkins bows to her and says "Greeting my lady. What brings you to the library?"

The girl smiles "You don't need to bow. I'm here to check on Zane. As my oldest follower, it's in my best interest to make sure he's in good health." Jenkins nods and turns to the others. "This is Hestia, Greek goddess of fire, homes, families and the hearth." She lifted her hood slightly letting them see her eyes that burned like a warm fireplace.

They had varying reactions, Cassandra was puzzled, Flynn was ecstatic and Ezekiel just takes a bite of his pear and says "Cool eyes."

With Eve and Jacob

They paused as they were walking back when they felt something. "Ezekiel did something that might get him kill again, didn't he?" Eve states more than asks. "We better hurry back so you can something to yell at." Jacob says as they rush back.

In five minutes they got to the others to hear who the guest was and what Ezekiel said. "please don't smite him. He means well." Eve says Hestia just laughs warmly. "I'm not like my siblings were in the past. The gods and goddesses were like teenagers when Greece was still strong. Now a days they have hidden themselves from the mortals on most worlds." She stared off remembering better days.

Ezekiel noticed the wording first "Worlds? As in other worlds with non human life on them?" "Yes that's what I mean. Does it surprise you that you are not alone?" She asked him. He shrugged "No but I wasn't sure that it was true."

"so you said he's your oldest follower. What did you mean by that?" Eve asks carefully. "His family gave offerings to me from before the Great Rebirth happened. I was surprised when he reappeared after so many centuries had passed."

"The what? And how old is he?" Jacob asked confused "Have a seat." they do so. "The Great Rebirth was when origin Earth broke and the worlds formed from the the hopes and dreams of the mortals. Almost all of the humans died. The cause of the Rebirth is not to be told to anyone for the truth may break them." She let it sink in. "Zane is among the ones that didn't die, right? How many others survived?" Flynn asked somberly.

"Some children survived and the light in their hearts guided them to safety. But they too died when their time came. Zane is a special case because there was unknown factors at work. He lost his home but found a different one." She walked into the library where Zane was leaving them to their thoughts.

"Can I point out that he aged well?" Ezekiel asked and got a resounding "NO!" from them.

In Zane's Dream

Zane was sitting on a log near a hearth as a hooded girl tended to it. "I've never met you but I know you. You are the patron goddess of my family, Hestia." He said softly as she just smiled. "DO you think that I'm doing the right thing?"

She didn't answer. "I'm most likely going to bend or break some rules, for so Terra can live a normal-ish life. Is it too much to ask for some happiness after what happened?" She didn't answer again. "Please say something! My family offered you prays and offerings for years and for the first time I can hear you speck to me. So please say something!" Zane had tears glinting at the corner of his eyes.

Finally she answered "The rules of Life and Death are there for a reason. If you go through with your plan you may cross a line. Be ready to be brought before the consul of Death. They will judge you." Her voice was warm reminding him of happy times.

"Please don't be too rash. I've grown quite fond of your antics. As long as you protect your family the hearth will aid you where it can." Her smile was melancholy. She was a goddess and was limited by the laws Zeus made.

"Thank you, my lady." Zane said softly.

 **Author's note: This took longer to write than I planned but life gets in the way and things happen. The next world should be obvious so you guy may know what's coming up. Of all the Greek Pantheon, Hestia is among the nicest. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The memory sharing thing will be explained later.**


	12. Strange Chameleon

**Welcome! Here some bad news, I had the chapter typed up and ready but my computer fried itself wiping the hard drive. So, this chapter plus some other ones were lost. Good news is I will be rewriting them. Sorry for the delay. Just to give you heads up there will a time jump and screwing over a big bad's plans royally. It's after Kingdom Hearts 3 and once I get my hands on the game, I tackle what happened in the events of the game.**

 **Edit: Got the game (100%ed it) and typed up a chapter but I realized it revealed of lot of plot points I wanted to keep hidden for now. So, it will be a later chapter. It will also give people time to experience the game themselves.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own what's mine.**

 **Chapter 12: Strange Chameleon**

Dark Hand Hideout

San Francisco, California

6 years after the defeat of Xehanort

Alarms wailed as the panicked thieves ran to the safe rooms. Valmont stood in front of the stone form of Shendu. "Get to your stations! This is a code Vermilion! It's not a drill! I repeat not a drill!" He barked over the intercom. Shendu the demon sorcerer spoke "What did you steal this time?" Valmont doesn't even turn. "Nothing that I know of, let's hope he's in a good mood." He looks at the far wall where a Greek symbol was permanently burned into it.

"Boss, everyone is set." Ratso reports as he and his cohorts, Chow and Finn, enter the room. "Good. Now tell me what you fools stole from him?" Valmont demanded. "Nothing, we learn our lesson after he visited the first time!" Chow says in fear. They quickly duck as Shendu blasts flames their way.

"Then stay silent when Tohru escorts him here." Valmont hisses glaring at them. "Yes boss!" They say and do so. The door opens and a smartly dressed man walks in. behind him the sumo wrestler of a bodyguard Tohru closes the door.

"Valmont, I'd say this was a friendly visit but we both know that you are not on friendly terms with me." His voice was melodic with an edge of steel to it. "What brings the CEO and founder of Rebirth Ice Cream here? Is it perhaps something was taken by one of my employees? I shall have it return post haste if it is so." Valmont said hoping that this didn't end with collateral damage, again.

"Yes and no. Someone stole something but it wasn't you." The CEO said annoyed. They sighed in relief. "Then how can I help?" Valmont inquires. "I need information that will lead me to the current whereabouts of Arsene Lupin III. He stole something that my family lost years ago. It resurfaced recently but Lupin stole it before I had a chance of reclaiming it." The CEO said

"May ask how long ago it was lost?" Valmont asks fishing for information. The CEO raises an eyebrow. "It was lost when the Greek Empire fell. The Romans stole it and that the last time I knew of its whereabouts until Chan uncovered a hidden treasure trove. A week later Lupin does his thing and makes off all of it."

The criminals twitch at Chan's name but they keep quiet. Valmont's eyes gleamed at this. He could make this work in his favor. "What did he steal that is yours?" He presses for information carefully. "A small bronze box with a symbol you know quite well. Bring me the box untampered with or the info to get it back and you will get a reasonable payment when I confirm that it is the real deal."

"Ten million if we deliver the box to you or five million if it's only info." Valmont starts. "Two million with the box or five hundred grand if it's only the info." The CEO counters. "How about we give you a shout if we find any Greek items that may interest you and get you the box or its whereabouts for seven million?" Valmont says sweetening the deal.

The CEO thinks about it. "Deal, I expect you to update me as soon when you have news, right?" CEO asked in a tone that made Valmont fight the urge to run in fear. "Tohru show him the door." Valmont says.

20 minutes later

Valmont stood in his office alone save Shendu and stared at the burnt wall. "It's all starting to make sense. His name, his company, the motto, and his temper, he's a follower of one of the Greek gods. This will require a careful approach. If the gods are involved then we must tread carefully." He says.

"Who is this Lupin?" Shendu asks "A master thief who tells the victim he's coming before he commits the crime." Valmont informs him. "Somehow he pulls it off almost every time." Shendu picks up on what was unsaid "He will be harder to find. Perhaps Chan will be a useful tool."

"Oh, do tell what you mean?" Valmont asks intrigued "It`s simple, tip him off that Lupin stole a magic item and he will lead us right to the thief. Then we will grab the box when they fight and make a swift withdraw." As Shendu said this Valmont grinned. "That is a good plan. Now to set things in motion."

Uncle`s rare finds

San Francisco

3 days later

"Jade! You man the register. One more thing, sell stuff." Uncle yelled from the back. Jade rolled her eyes and leaned back. "This is boring. Too bad Jackie won't let me hunt down that master thief." She imitates Jackie "Jade you are a child. Hunting down Lupin III is no place for children. Stay with Uncle."

The bell above the door tickles as a man that looked like a biker walks in. "Welcome to Uncles Rare Finds, looking for anything in particular?" She recites the line Uncle forced her to memorize. The man smiles "Yes I'm looking for anything Greek you might have."

Jade blinks then run to the back room saying "wait here, I'll get Uncle."

A few minutes later

Jade drags Uncle to the front saying "He's looking for Greek stuff, I don't know if you've got any! Come up before he leaves!" Uncles sighs "Uncle will teach you then. One more thing where is customer?" "I think he's over there." She point to a corner of the shop where the man stood staring at a vase adorned with the scene of a man praying to a hearth and dead crops behind him.

"Ah. You have good eye. This is a recent purchase. It dates back to ancient Greece 450 BC, an Oenochoe Terracotta vase." Uncle says hoping for a sale. The man didn't move but he asked, "Do you know the tale it tells?" "No, Uncle has not figured that out yet." Uncle says wondering if this man was more than just a collector.

"Looks like a farmer down on his luck to me" Jade says. The man chuckles wistfully. "That was my response when I was a kid too. It describes the tale of a farmer who`s crops died due to famine and poor rain. He prayed to the gods yet they didn't answer." The man said looking off into the distance.

"They sound like a bunch of snobs to me." Jade comments carelessly. "You aren't wrong. Luckily, one goddess answered his prays. Hestia, goddess of the hearth, home, keys, living flame, veils, pantry, bowls, and other things." The man continued "She burned the dead crops and told the man to plant again. One year later his crops were full of life."

"What was the price? Uncle knows the gods are fickle." Uncle says with narrowed eyes. This man knows too much to be normal. Uncle had found nothing about the vase, yet this man was telling the tale from memory. "The goddess returned a year and a day later and tasked him and his children to guard her treasures for all eternity. The name of this family is not recorded but they must be continuing to do their duty to this day." The man finished and Jade was impressed.

"Cool story but are you going to buy it?" She asks. The man pulls out his check book. "How about thirty grand for it?" He offers "Give Uncle your name and it's a deal." Uncle says. If Uncle was right, then it was one of THEM. Uncle had found hints of their existence, but it was like catching the wind with your bare hands. You knew it was there, but it remained unseen.

"My name is Zane Laskaris. Pleasure doing business with you" He says handing Uncle the check and leaves the shop. "Aiyah! Uncle must warn Jackie of magic biker cultist!" Uncle says rushing to the phone. Jade grins, now's her chance to find Uncle Jackie and have a slice of the fun.

Lupin III's current hideout

Somewhere in Greece

Same day

"Well, looks like I was right." Lupin says reading the letter he got from his contact. Jigen looks up from the gun he was cleaning. "About what, another treasure to steal or something?" He says putting the gun back together, lighting a fresh cigarette.

"I thinking he's referring to the poor attempts to tail us for the past few days." Goemon says from the corner where he was leaning. "Even Zenigata does a better job." Fujiko says lounging on the coach. "So who is it?"

Lupin grinned "An old friend of mine dropped a letter off at Rebecca's home addressed to me, this letter in fact." He indicates the letter in question. "He requests that I hand over something I've stolen or he will smoke me out and take it by force."

Fujiko raises an eyebrow "Must be important then, what is it?" She asks. Lupin sets a bronze cube roughly 6 inches in size. It had no seems and the top panel had a symbol engraved into it. The symbol was odd; it consisted of a sideways c sitting on a horizontal line with two vertical lines connecting to the middle line. "This box is what he wants." Lupin says confidently.

"That's a box? How do you even open it?" Jigen asks peering at it "That's no seams or mechanism that I can see. What's even in it?" "No idea, but if he's contacting me, then he is desperate to get his hands on it." The tone of Lupin's response was not comforting. "What's the plan? Wait it out or go under the radar?" Fujiko asks amused. "We spring the trap. This is one person you don't cross. I've seen him when his temper gets the better of him and it's not pretty." Lupin said. He remembered the screams and heat of the flames. They burned so quickly that ash was all that was left.

One hour later

Zane's Private jet

Over the Atlantic Ocean

One hour until arrival

"Your men captured Lupin? I find that hard to believe." Zane says flatly. Valmont, who was seated across from, nodded at this "Yes my thoughts exactly but even if he's playing them, you can still get your prize." He says smoothly. "Before we continue, when are you going to stop hiding, Jade?" Zane said this not to Valmont but to Jade Chan who had hid on the plane since before takeoff.

Jade jumped out of her hiding spot ready to fight them yelling "Jackie will stop your evil plans!" The two men look at her then laugh. "Brat, He is not evil. Scary when he needs to be? Definitely. He can be the thing of nightmares if pushed." Valmont says shivering

"But he hired you to get a weapon. Captain Back intercepted the message, that's why he sent Jackie." She reasoned. "It was simply a means to an end. The client wanted something and I made it possible. It's just business." Valmont says as if discussing the weather. "Jade, have a seat and I will tell you the bigger picture." Zane says. She does so "Fine you better not leave out anything." Jade says annoyed.

"I can't tell you everything for reasons you don't need to know. I 'm part of a secret order, who tasked to guard objects that Hestia has deemed hers or too dangerous for mortals." Zane laid out the facts. "Wait you're talking about the vase!" She said as it dawned on her. "Yes. The vase. You get why I bought it." He said happy she paid attention back at the shop. she adds "That makes more sense than you being an alien looking for a WMD." She got a flat look from the adults. "So, what's in the box?" She asks.

"It contains something that is greatly treasured. It is the first treasure that we guarded. I will not tell you any more at this time." Zane says. "Why not?" Jade whines "Because Hestia says so." Zane said ending that topic. "You talked to your god?" Jade asked surprised. "Indeed, I do. Not too often but she makes time to talk to her favored ones." Zane said smiling fondly.

"Perhaps you can tell me how you appeared out of nowhere and became one of the most well-known creameries in the world in just five years?" Valmont asks hoping for answers. "He sells Ice cream? I thought he was just a rich collector cultist." Jades says questioningly. Zane's eyebrow twitches at being call a cultist but he lets Valmont continue talking.

"Zane Laskaris, CEO and founder of Rebirth Ice Cream. At a glance the records of him are authentic but after some digging you will find that are well made fakes. The only thing that isn't fake is the quality of his ice cream. Many have tried to figure out his secrets only to fail utterly." Valmont outlined. "He guards his secrets like a hornet does the hive. Depending on how he feels the spies will be dealt with in amusing ways for all the public to see. He doesn't even try to hide that he did it."

Jade's eyes widened "he's super loaded." She says trying to figure his secret to success. "To answer your unsaid question, I did odd jobs here and there at first. Then I started selling from a bicycle ice cream cart in New York. It was by year three that things escalated quickly." Zane said remembering the hard work he did. "Rebirth Ice Cream. Serving family moments one scope at a time." Jade was speechless. "No, I didn't read your mind." He adds before she says anything.

"Yes, that slogan does suit one of her followers. You have the money?" Valmont asks, "Right here." Zane holds up an armored suitcase "all seven million dollars in fifties." Valmont pleased with this says "you are a man of your word as expected. If things work at least partially well the brat will be returned to Chan and I will have my money."

"Watching one child for a few hours is easy. I had to deal with a summer camp full of 'troubled children' for a full summer. Nice kids but they are trouble incarnate. That's not even touching the rival camps that showed up." Zane says with a shudder. Valmont nods at this "sounds like torture." Valmont remembers something stating, "I am pleased to let you know that the culprit of the 'incident' has been dealt with." Zane nods at this.

"I'm parched. What do you two want? Soda? Hard cider?" Zane says opening a mini frig. "got any cola?" Jade asks and catches the bottle he tosses her "money bags soda?" (This is a real soda. It's owned by Gene Simians of KISS) "I'll pass." Valmont says.

Island of Crete

Greece

65 minutes later

"Jackie! One more thing! The box must not fall into the wrong hands!" Uncle yelled from the cellphone as Jackie held it away from his ear. "Uncle. You've said that about a lot of things. Why is the box dangerous?" he asked. "The box not important! The goddess it belongs to is!" Uncles yelled again "Hestia will be on a man hunt if her rage is incited. One more thing, Jade is missing. She will most likely find you." CLICK Jackie stared at the phone as Uncle said the last thing nonchalantly then hung up. "Bad day." He said resigned.

"Bad day indeed." Jackie looked up to see Lupin III juggling the box Jackie was warned about. "Looks like you were played like a fiddle." Lupin said smirking. Jackie put his cellphone away and demanded in a fighting stance "Hand over the box or I will use force." Lupin just laughed "You don't get it. You're not in control of this encounter."

With narrowed eyes Jackie asked, "And you are?" Lupin smirked "Not a chance. The Bird of the Hearth is. This is all a trap and you are just a pawn in his plan. He's coming for the box and I prefer not being flambé." "The Bird of the Hearth?" Jackie questioned with a touch of dread. Lupin didn't answer as a wave of heat swept over them.

"That would be me. The box?" Zane said striding between them. "Here you go." Lupin tosses it to Zane who examines every inch of it. "you're on thin ice Lupin." Lupin got a cigarette out and put it in his mouth. "Sorry about that old pal. I didn't know it was there and what it was worth to you." Lupin says off handedly as he fiddles with a lighter. It didn't light so he returned it to his pocket.

"Damn" He says "Can I have a light? I don't have a spare lighter on me." Zane points at the cig and it starts to burn. "Thanks" Jackie watched this tensely but turned when he heard a voice he knew. Then Jade runs up to Zane inspecting the box. "Doesn't look like much."

"Jade! What are you doing here? How did you get here?" Jackie asked confused and worried. "She hitched a ride with me." Zane said, "Not a single hair was harmed on her head." This relived Jackie, but he stayed on guard. "the box is the real deal. The money is yours." Zane said into a comm device in his ear.

Lupin had disappeared by this point leaving the three alone. "I won't mince words with you Chan. Here are the facts. The box is now with the original owner and it will stay that way. Try and stop me and Jade will be left with a barbequed uncle." Zane said in a no-nonsense voice. Jackie let him leave knowing it was too risky to try anything.

"Jade, do you know who that is?" He asked in a tense tone. "He's rich, makes ice cream, scares Valmont, and is loyal to Hestia." Jade ticks off on her fingers nonchalantly. "He's also on Section 13's watch list. He is the boogieman of the criminal underworld. He's driven people to turn themselves in just to be safe from him." Jackie said shivering. "Valmont wasn't kidding." Jade says then remembers something. "He told me that he that he needs someone to babysit his adopted daughter next month. So, I told him that you could do it." She said smiling.

Jackie paled saying "Bad day."

Three years prier

Fuyuki City

Fourth Holy Grail War

The Docks

Zane watched Saber and Lancer battle it out. "This is makes up for the lovely encounter a few days ago, right Caster?" He said sitting on a shipping container not far from the battle. "Can you confirm who is watching?" a male voice said in his mind. "everyone is here, even Assassin who seems to be not dead. How's Sakura?" He asked

"She's still recovering. I'd like to say she'll be fine, but she'll have issues to work out." The voice replied telepathically. Rider, true to his class, rode in on a chariot pulled by oxen. "Heroes Sheath your blades! For I am Iskandar, the King of Conquest!" Rider proclaimed.

Zane was speechless. "Master, you know him?" Caster asked "You could say that. I better greet his majesty." Zane turns into a bird and flies to the battle site.

Saber's POV

Saber looked at Rider with disbelief. Who would do that, telling the enemy who he was? Pure Arrogance was all it was. She was interrupted when a majestic bird landed on one of lancer's spears. "Well, that is a rare sight. It's not a phoenix but firebirds are still rare" Rider said as Lancer tried and failed to get the bird to perch elsewhere. It moved from one spear to the other mocking him.

"what is a phantasmal beast doing here, is it the work of a servant?" Waver, a twiggy brat who was Rider's master in this war, said. "Stop hiding in the shadows!" Rider yelled to the watchers. "Why should I needlessly risk my life when Lancer does the fighting for me." Lancer's master sheered as he projected his voice from his hidden vantage point.

"Heroes aid my conquest" Rider asked bombastically. "I must decline your offer." Lancer said as the bird perched on his head. He had given up and let the bird perch where it wanted. "I ruled as king, so I will not lower myself to being ruled by you." Saber said firmly. "Oh! The King of knights is but a girl?" Rider comments as Saber glares at him.

"I guess negotiations have failed." Rider says expecting this. "Not quite your majesty." A melodic voice says, "You will find that allies come from the oddest of places." The servants and masters look around for the speaker only to hear the voice says. "I'm over here." They look to the bird who was quite smug.

"You wish to aid my conquest?" Rider asks the bird. "It would be an honor to aid one of the greatest Greek rulers." The bird said and perched on the chariot. Rider laughed commenting "spoken like a true Greek. Do you have name you like to be called? It'd be rude to call you bird all the time."

"I have many names, some I didn't want, but I'm stuck with them. I'd prefer to not tell them for the walls have ears. So just call me Caster for now." Caster (Zane) said with a shrug. "You white haired one, what is your view on children?" Caster (Zane) asked Irisviel completely ignoring the angry ranting of Lancer's master.

His question was an odd one Saber thought to herself. He had anger simmering under surface of his voice and his eyes blazed with intense fury. Saber wonder who it was directed at. Irisviel answered the question without pause "As a mother I know children are priceless gifts to be cherished." She smiled thinking of her daughter.

"Exactly. That's why what's about to happen it totally justified." Caster (Zane) said as the Matou mansion off in the distance was consumed as a pillar of ghostly blue fire erupted, scorching the heavens and shaking the earth. As the aftershocks subsided and they regained their balance, Saber put her wind cloaked blade to the bird's neck. "Explain yourself!" She demanded.

"I have a dim view on child abuse, what happened at that place was worse. So, I purged it from the face of the earth along with its owner, who will be enjoying Tartarus for his crimes." The bird snarled coldly as that anger she detected earlier flared briefly before he got his composure back. "Tohsaka! You are lucky the Hearth hasn't called for your death yet!" He yelled then flew off, leaving all but Rider confused.

Rider's POV

This was chilling news. He pitied this 'tohsaka'. At the same time, he had a good idea who 'caster' was or rather what group he was a part of. "What was he talking about?" Waver asked shivering. The flames were terrifying from here. "There are forces at work that have been hidden in the shadows for a long time. Be on guard, Waver." Rider assured him with a grim look on his face.

From above them a prideful voice said, "He is a servant of the gods, but I will let him live because he interests me." They look up to see a blonde-haired man in golden armor looking down on them from a light pole. "Oh. And who are you to claim that right?" Rider asked amused. The man said in a proud tone "It is my right as the one true king of this world. There for, all it's people and treasure are mine by right."

"Then what do you can call what caster did?" Waver asked bravely as he could. Rider was impressed that he even tried to ask the golden servant at all. The golden servant in a bored tone said "weeding the garden. Unsightly pests are not uncommon, correct?"

Line break

three days later

Einzbern castle

Fuyuki city outskirts

Kiritsugu Emiya looked at the intel on the enemy masters and servants. "Berserker's master is MIA, likely dead based on the pool of blood in the alleyway, but no body was found." He looks at Saber and asks, "What do you know about Caster?" She collects her thoughts. "He's of Greek origins and follows Hestia, goddess of the hearth." Saber answers "He's a powerful pyromancer but those flames were not normal." She thought back to the crater that was formally a mansion. "For a caster he's good at hiding. I sensed no trace of him in the city." She reports.

Kirisugu hid his displeasure at this. It was a setback that he didn't need. The castle was still damaged from the attack by Lancer's master, luckily Saber wasn't hit by Lancer's cursed spear. The last thing he needed was Saber to be handicapped by an unhealable wound. "Avoid confronting him for now." He ordered and Saber nodded.

Irisviel felt a chill done her spine. "I'm worried Kiri, what will happen to Illya? I don't doubt you will win but you know." She trailed off Kirisugu knew what she meant. If he failed, they would likely punish him by keeping his daughter from him. Maybe there was a way to prevent that but was it worth the risk?

He wrote a coded message and sent it to the one he knew would help.

Zane's hideout

same time

Sakura awoken feeling better. She was in a soft bed and the sun was shining through a window. Her hair was her original brown color again. This had to be a trick. She knew Grandfather must be doing this to dash her hopes just like he did in the past. Turning she saw Uncle Kariya resting in a chair. He looked more dead than alive. Any minute now Grandfather would throw her in the worm pit.

Kariya woke with a shuddering cough and blood dripped from his mouth. He looked relived she was awake. "Your safe, Sakura. He's gone." He smiled weakly trying to reassure her. He grasped her hand. She felt his grip loosen as he died with a smile on his face. She knew it was too good to be true. As tears filled her eyes a stranger entered the room. He had blue hair, wearing strange robes and carrying a staff.

"Damn. I thought he'd last longer." The stranger had an accent she couldn't place. He's tone wasn't mocking like her grandfather, it was resigned. "Don't worry, Little Lady. You are safe." He said. She shook her head. Grandfather will find me, it's hopeless." She said in despair. the man laughed coldly "That fiend will have a hard time finding you. He's enjoying his destination in the afterlife. Zane and I, made sure of that."

She was unsure of what to feel. "Really?" She asked praying it wasn't a dream or a trick. He smiled kindly "Down to the last fragment. You're free from his clutches. Where you go from here is up to you. We can take you back to the tosakas if you want?" when he said that name, she felt angry at her father who gave her away. "Or not, clearly it's not a good idea at the moment." He figured. "When Zane gets back, we'll work out what to do."

That name again. "Who is Zane?" She asked softly. "why does he care what happens to me?" The man paused then answered "He's complicated. Oh right! You may call me Caster. I'd prefer to be summoned in the Lancer class but what can you do." He says with a shrug and picks up her uncle's corpse. "When your ready we'll hold a funeral for your uncle. He destroyed himself to save you, you know. The only reason he was alive was to see you safe." Caster said with respect.

Maybe there was still hope. She thought as she drifted back to sleep not knowing the chaos that was unfolding at that moment.

Later that night

Hill overlooking Tosaka Manor

"OK Lancelot. Pitch this soft ball hard enough to reach and hurt that fool but not enough to do permanent damage." Zane says passing the ball to the berserker class servant who was quite sane do to a command seal. "Would it not be better to behead him for his crime?" Lancelot asked taking the ball that became cloaked in black with red veins on it. Zane snorts "He's a moron who was hoodwinked by a monster. Besides he has another daughter to look after. Pain will set him straight." Zane grinned

"If you say so." Lancelot throws the ball and is rewarded by the sound of glass breaking and a high-pitched scream of pain. "Direct hit!" Zane cheered. "You should find Saber if you want that fight." Lancelot smiled sadly "Thank you and farewell, Knight of the Hearth." He left Zane alone on the hill. "Joy, another title. At least it's cool sounding." Zane shrugged slightly annoyed and walked away whistling a cheery tune.

The next day

Zane's hide out

Sakura observed the white-haired girl she was eating breakfast with. She looked about her age 8 years old. She was talking about finding chestnut buds and her father carried her on his shoulders. Sakura was jealous of her.

As they finished eating, Zane entered the room. "Sorry about not being here when you woke up and sorry about your uncle. I tried to heal him, but he was running on will power alone by the time I found him." He paused then asked "This might be a bit early, but I was thinking of adopting you if you like. You'd travel from time-" He was cut off when Sakura rushed over and hugged him crying with happiness and sorrow. Her tears spilled forth and he patted her on the back comfortingly. It was a good ten minutes before she stopped crying, but she still clung to him.

"Girls, this is important. I'm going to have you stay here until the war is over. I'd say a week or two at most there are things I need to do." Sakura hugs a little longer then lets him go. "you'll return, right?" She asked. "Without a doubt." HE answered and grabbed a jar with complex markings on it. "What's that?" Illya asks her red eyes filled with curiosity. "to put it simply, an unbreakable jar to trap things. I worked on it for years, Caster helped work out the bugs, but it's instrumental to saving the universe."

"From what?" She asks with wide eyes. Zane shows them two gemstones that glowed with an inner light. One was orange and the other was purple. "These are two of a set of six powerful stones. It's dangerous to possess enough one of them. I obtained them to stop someone with nasty plans. He will hunt for them, so I need a plan to take him down. Be safe and play nice. Luckily, I've got a few years to do so." He said putting the stones away and leaving for his errands.

Two weeks later

Outside of Fuyuki city

"do you regret letting me win the war?" Zane asked Kirisugu. Kirisugu sighed "You stopped a disaster and saved my daughter from a worse fate. My question is what you will do with the millions of curses you removed from the grail?" Zane patted the sealed jar. "It will stop a greater evil. Kill one to save the universe. It's that how you work, right?" Kirisugu scowled. "Not anymore. Too many innocent lost and too much guilt in the end. Who is the one you will kill?" Zane sighed "A mad titan who wishes to court death."

Present time

Uncle's Rare Finds

San Francisco, California

6 years after the defeat of Xehanort

One month after the box retrieval Mission

Uncle heard the front door bell ding. Looking up he said with a smile "Welcome to Uncle's Rare Finds. How can I help you?" He stared at the duo standing before him. A young brown-haired girl, around 11 years old, and a black cloaked figure who towered over her. The figure looked to be seven feet tall.

Uncle felt a chill, that figure felt like he wasn't there at all. The figure's voice sounded male "Is this where a 'Jackie Chan' currently lives?" Uncle answered coolly "That is Uncle's nephew. What do you want?" the girl shuffled forward shyly "He agreed to keep an eye on me while father is dealing with something dangerous." She said with a worried undertone.

Uncle's posture softened. "Uncle understands. What of other family?" She shakes her head. "They have dangerous jobs or are too busy." He nods at this. "what about him?" he points to the figure. She sighs. "He's just there to keep me safe not happy." She says sadly. The figure snorts "As long as your safe the boss won't scrap me. You humans are so dependent on social interaction."

The girl elbows him and there's a clanging sound from the impact. "ow!" she says nursing her elbow. "You should have remembered from the last time you did that, Princess?" He says amused. She pouts crossing her arms. "Father should have left you at the bottom of that river. Stupid Tsukumogami." She mutters.

Uncle knew what it meant. "Why would your father employ an ensouled object as a bodyguard? Surely a living person would be more trustworthy." He inquired curious. Spirits were crafty and deals tended to end in disaster. Sakura shivered "thugs kidnapped me because of a gift Father gave me." She showed him a charm bracelet made of a bluish metal. She smiled proudly continuing "Then Father came and saved me. He's the greatest!"

The Tsukumogami scoffed "Lord Dio would beat him with ease." He slumped in despair when Sakura piped in "Anubis, that same 'lord' was beat by the Jostars, who were also the ones to leave you at the bottom of the Nile for years." Anubis? What sort of spirit was named after a god of the afterlife? The bell above the door tinged as Jackie and Jade walked in. "Uncle. I'm home." Seeing the black cloaked figure, Jackie spring into action and tried to kick the Tsukumogami. CLANG!

Jackie only achieved a hurt foot and ringing ears. "Jackie! Don't attack customers! One more thing, you are watching little girl. One more thing, punching Ensouled armor is foolish!" Uncle scolds Jackie hitting him on the forehead with each 'one more thing'.

Jade walks up, rapping her knuckles on the armor and whistles hearing the metallic clang. "Cool. What's your name?" She asks Sakura with her hands in her pockets. Sakura slyly says "Sakura Laskaris." All the Chans stare at her in shock.

"Aiyah! Jackie! Why did you promise to babysit daughter of magic biker cultist! One more thing, did Uncle not warn you not to get on bad side of the Children of the Hearth?" Uncle yells. Jackie yells back "It wasn't my idea to babysit the daughter of the Bird of the Hearth! Jade did it." Unlike the other Jade was excited. "So, is it true that Zane scared the living daylights out of the Dark Hand to save you? Oh! Did he tell you what's in the box?"

Sakura stared then smiled. "She's was just like how Father described her." She whispers to herself. By now the adults stopped yelling. "Come! Uncle make tea." He pushed them to the kitchen after flipping the store sign to closed.

Five minutes later

"Sakura what can you tell us about the box? Is it dangerous?" Jackie asked. Sakura shook her head. "Dangerous? no. Important? Yes." She paused narrowed brows "It contains the 'contract' the farmer made with Hestia. It's a, I think he described it as metaphysical, proof of the deal that binds the Laskaris family to their promise."

"That's it? That sound like a lame treasure!" Jade cries dismayed and annoyed. "Jade, not all treasures are gold and jewels. Sometimes they are intangible things." Jackie said trying to teach Jade to be less materialistic. "Uncle suspected something like that. The box was said to be forged by smith god and quenched in the River Styx. To break such a deal will bring doom upon you." Uncle says grimly.

"The fossil knows a thing or two after all." Anubis says snidely. Uncle's eyebrow twitches at the insult. Jade looks at Sakura's luggage and asks, "Is that doll moving?" Sakura looks and says amused "Amber you know you can't move around normal people." She takes out a blue hair doll wearing a gray blue Victorian style dress and rabbit ears headband. Her blue eyes twinkled with mischief as she pouted and crossed her arms.

"But Princess, it was stuffy in there." The doll whined "And they aren't normal. They are like you and Lord Zane, interesting." The doll was set on the table and curtsied "Greetings. I am called Angelic Amber. Pleased to meet you." Amber said politely. "Uncle did not know there was another guest. Uncle will bring tea." He sizes up the roughly two-foot doll. "Do dolls drink tea?" He asks.

Amber giggles "Yes I can. Other toys don't have the advantage of magic as I was blessed with." She said pridefully as Anubis snorted "Please. You call that magic? All you can do is not break and consume food and drink." Amber glared at Anubis and Jade swear that there were sparks flying between them as flames radiated around them.

"Behave you two." Sakura barked sharply at the two. "Yes princess." The duo said looking ashamed. "You are always like this." Sakura says exasperated. "It's the tin dog's fault. He's proud as a peacock and has an ego to match." Amber tries to plead her case. Anubis butts in "I'm a STAND! Pride is completely warranted! You are just a toy that Lord Zane took pity on!" Shaking her head Sakura said "why did Father send him to guard me? He knows this happens." Jade watches the duo bicker. "So, what started the feud?" She asks. Sakura sighs "Anubis made a snide remark. Amber replied in kind and they never let it go."

"At least it doesn't come to blows." Jackie says as the duo finish their argument for now. "I wonder what Zane is doing right now." Jackie wondered out loud. "Lord Zane is investigating a relic to see if it needs to be removed." Amber said. "Not all relics need to be placed in the vault. Lady Hestia is more lenient with the treasures than she was in the past."

"Sure, she is. Those treasures have weak, useless abilities, or have nothing special at all about them." Anubis adds. "A ring that detects bad food is useless." "Is not! It is an aid that insures Lord Zane never gets food poisoning." Amber pauses then continue talking "I think it detects poisoned food too." Anubis thinks about it. "OK. That is useful. Tyrants have been felled a sip of poison a lot." Anubis conceded.

"Does Zane collect relics other than what was there?" Jade asks Anubis, who was silent, as the others look at him. He caves "Fine! Lord Zane has added to the collection without consulting Hestia. It's not like anyone will miss them."

"can I see it?" Jade asks excitedly. "NO!" Anubis, Uncle, and Jackie say simultaneously. Sakura chuckles "He lets people see the safe relics and trinkets. He doesn't let anyone enter the deep vault EVER. The rule of thumb is 'don't touch unless you are told you can'." "A wise rule that Uncle understands perfectly why it's in place." Uncle says sipping his tea.

Meanwhile

Present time

Ten days later

Deep space

The Sanctuary II burned are flame devoured it from within. Its metal hull warped and blackened as the black flames greedily rendered the warship to chucks of space junk. Only the skeleton of the once proud

vessel was left with the bones of its passengers to join it.

Zane exited the burnt husk of the Sanctuary II, he was carrying the infinity gauntlet that he took from Thanos. Using the curses as a battery to use the Teraflare spell and not die turned out to be a bad idea in a way. Sure, it killed the enemy and saved the Statesman from being blown up, but he couldn't salvage anything from the ship. He looked at his armor, soot coated it black. "Man, Thanos can punch with the fineness of a surgeon." Zane said as his broken ribs reminded of the week-long torture Thanos put him through.

Judging the distance, he grabbed a chuck of the ship and kicked off, propelling himself towards the Statesman. He passed out before he reached the disabled ship.

On board the Statesman

Medical bay

"Brother, Thanos' ship is destroyed but the possibility of his death is unclear." Thor said to Loki as the lights flickered. Loki nodded but said "What of the blackened warrior? Ally or enemy? What I'm sure is he's no ally of Thanos."

On the bed lay the warrior, who when they got him on the ship had been clad in red and bronze armor with a bird motif. It even had a cape made of feathers of a firebird. The fingers of the gauntlets ended in talons and the greaves had spikes at the tip. An emblem of a bird with spread wings and an unknown symbol in front of it was on the chest plate. The helmet looked like the head of a bird of prey, fierce and majestic. They discovered it turned into a metal pauldron and armored vest.

"Brother, what are his injuries?" Thor pressed. Loki looked at the list. "Multiple broken bones, likely torture based on how precise they were done, and bruising across his whole body." Thor noted that Loki was not saying something. "What did you find on him?" Loki sighed and said, "He has two infinity stones."

"He's a mortal. Where are the stones and which ones?" Thor roared in shock. "Still on his person. They refused to be taken. As for which ones, Power and soul." Loki answered showing a singed hand. "Other than that, he's got a number of trinkets that have simple enchantments like poison detection and an odd stopwatch that I can't discern what it does at the moment."

The stopwatch looked normal enough. The skull design on it was a bit odd but it seemed to be just a morbid style choice. Just then it started to shake as he was inspecting a corpse. Loki popped it open and the hands began to sign.

Glimpse of the past

Point Zero

Thor and Loki were standing in the middle of a confrontation between Thanos and the Warrior. "Tell me where the stone is, and you will be set free." Thanos offers. "And Tartarus is a paradise! When you meet death tell him Zane sent you! TERAFLARE!" The warrior, Zane, declared with a sickly black fireball forming in front of him then exploding as Thanos yelled in agony.

Loki and Thor stood in the still scenery, a glowing doorframe off to the side looking out of place. "Did we just witness Thanos' death?" Thor asked in awe of the stop watch's ability. Loki was to busy looking at a jar that sat at Zane's feet. From the runes on it he knows it contained something that powered the fireball. The energy flowed from the jar to the fireball. It had an aura of wrongness just like the fireball did.

"Interesting. He used a jar of curses to supercharge the fireball. A risky move but it worked. Thor, did you find a jar?" Loki asked "yes, it was undamaged oddly enough." Thor answered. Loki pressed "Did it feel 'wrong' in any way?" Thor thought about it. "No. it felt like a normal pot."

Loki sighed in relief. "Then all of the cruse energy was used up. Let's go back." The entered the doorframe with new insight.

Onboard the Statesman

The Bridge

Thor, Loki, Bruce Banner, and Heimdall were discussing what they learned. "So Thanos is dead because of a suicidal fireball attack?" Bruce asked not sure what to believe. "Not suicidal, more like a stupid idea on his part." Heimdall corrected. "The curses desired only destruction. He was foolish to bank on it, even if it worked."

"That aside, can he be trusted with two of the six." Thor asked the all-seeing and all hearing Asgardian. "My king, he can be trusted not to abuse their power. In fact, he barely uses them at all." Loki asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Will help arrive or will we drift in space forever?"

"We can only hope someone comes soon." Bruce answered. "I will seek out a new weapon when I have the chance." Thor says stomping out of the bridge.

A few hours later

Onboard the Benatar

The guardians of the galaxy had just arrived at the origin of the distress call and served the aftermath in disbelief. "It can't be. That's the Sanctuary II, one of Thanos' ships." Gamora said gripping her seat. "Looks like someone flambéed it. Hopefully with daddy dearest in it." Rocket Raccoon said with a chuckle.

"I am Groot." The teenaged Groot said. "Yeah I did a good job." A voice said and they turned to see a transparent person floating near Groot. "What's with the dead guy?" Drax asks. Said 'dead guy' chuckled "It's called astral projection. One of the powers the soul stone can give its user. My Name is Zane, Slayer of Thanos as of, I'd say, seven hours ago."

Starlord was skeptical but he rolled with it for now. "How did you kill Thanos?" Gamora questioned "My father does not die easy." Zane grimaced "With a Teraflare spell. Not my brightest moment but it worked." "Tera what?" Rocket asks confused.

"Teraflare. A boss tier AoE fire spell that hits all enemies with heavy fire damage. The mana requirements for it are beyond insane but I had a battery on hand. He had it coming anyways, after being at his 'tender mercy' for a week, I was not happy with him." Zane spat angerly. They got the picture. "So, where's your body? Floating in space?" Starlord asked. "Don't worry it's on the intact ship, recovering from Thanos' bone breaking treatment." Zane paled. "Shit! My wife is going to kill me." He exclaimed.

"I am Groot!" Groot says laughing "Whipped is right." Rocket laughs too. "At least I'm married to a badass wife. She'd turn you to icicles with ease." Zane fired back. "You are in pain." Mantis said using her powers as her antennas glowed. "Blame Thanos. He's been chasing me for over three years after I 'obtained' the power stone from The Nova Corps vaults. I refused to tell him where it was, and he was displeased." Zane answered with a shrug.

"Wait! You're telling me you have two infinity stones on you right now? How the hell did Thanos catch you?" Rocket yells Zane looked away and mumbled "he knew about my daughter." They went silent at that. "That would do it. She safe?" Zane nodded saying "She is safe from him, but he still has children out there."

Zane looked out the window "As long as the Black Order lives, she won't be safe." Starlord pipes in "We'll be happy to help but We're a little strapped for cash…" He trails off. Zane chuckles dryly "I'll be happy to pay you for any aid you can provide. But first you need to help the Asgardians. Their ship is not going anywhere because the damage to the propulsion system. Think you can fix it?"

"Pay us and We'll tow the damn thing to port." Rocket declares. "Done and done. As soon as I can, I will pay you. I swear on the River Styx." As Zane sworn his oath, a thrum of something answered. "What was that?!" Rocket said. "I am bound by my oath because the styx will punish me should I break it."

"You mean the Greek River Styx? That's real?" Starlord asks "Very real." Zane said flatly. "Now if you will excuse me, I've got a place to check out." Zane flickered away for sight leaving them to do their task.

Same time

Western Cuisine Nekoya

The rush hour was in full swing when Zane ghosted in. "Welcome to Nekoya… EEK!" The demon girl Aletta jumped in fright. "MASTER! A ghost has come to haunt the restaurant!" She ran to the kitchen as the guests looked up and had varying reactions. Some were scare, others shocked. Unsurprising Red Queen just looked up and said coolly. "You've gotten in a spot of trouble or is it out of trouble?"

Sarah Gold, a treasure hunter, was shocked but as a treasure hunter she knew Zane. "Zane! You most be in a bad to be 'ghosting'." She said with a laugh. With that the guests calmed down so Zane could tell his tale.

Lionael, the lion demon warrior laughed "Come tell us what mighty foe you faced." Zane floated down to sit at a table. "You remember I stole the Power stone over three years ago? Well the nut job that was after it chased me for those three years to get it."

Master aka the head chief walks in at that moment "Zane please refrain from ghosting in. You scared Aletta half to death." Zane shrugged "I didn't have a choice. My body currently has more broken bones than unbroken ones, so it's ghosting or deal with dreams until I'm healed."

Master understood. "When you're healed up make sure to come by in person." He reentered the kitchen. "Now back to the story. Thanos used my daughter's safety to make me come to him but I had a plan."

The fairies enwrapped by the story asked, "What plan?" Zane smiled and said, "I bided my time and after a week of torture, I got the chance and blasted him with a Teraflare!" Altorius, the elderly sage and magic user, spat out his beer in shock. "What! How are you alive? That level of spell is only cast by large groups of magic users working together or some kind dragon or god!"

"Well… I did use a mana battery for the bulk of the energy requirements." Zane said sheepishly. "Good news is he's burned to only his hand bones left and the relic he was going to use." Lionel laughed heartily "Well done. Even if it was not steel, it is a worth kill. A toast to Zane the hero!" Everyone cheered as Zane smiled. This was what he needed, a stress-free place to relax.

Red Queen smiled. Teaching Zane that spell paid off. Kuro telepathically asked her "He has not used the spell for revenge, why?" She knew this to be true. Zane had asked for a means to defeat someone he hated. She gave it to him anyways to test him. Yet it was seven years later he used it on someone else. He had grown as a person in that time. "He found a reason to live beyond the war he faced from within and without. Maybe now he will find the answers he's hunted for so many years." She replied the same way. "Besides, he is one of my treasures I have grown to enjoy having around. His enduring will shall burn brightly no matter the darkness."

2 weeks later

Avengers Earth

Avengers HQ

Zane sat at the bar with Loki, Thor, Tony Stark, Nick Fury, and Peter Parker, who was drinking soda.

"So, you're the one that killed Thanos. I can't say how much I appreciate what you did." Nick Fury said standing before Zane who was healed but he stayed a little longer to relax. "I was planning to stop him anyways. What do you really want to say?" Zane asked as Tony passed him a drink. "Would you be willing aid us with missions in the future?" Fury said.

Zane laughed "Maybe. I've got a family to get back to." Tony chuckled "he's got you there, pirate. So, can I see your family?" Zane shows them a picture of Aqua, and Sakura smiling for the camera. "Mr. Laskaris, I don't mean to be rude, but is she adopted?" Peter asked.

"Yeah. It was just after I stole the power stone, I was hiding out on an earth like planet and got roped into a small-scale war to the death with a 'wish' being the price." Loki snorted "Is that where you collected the curses? Wish granting things without a cost are too good to be true. How does that have to with your daughter?"

"I saved her from a bad place." Zane said without explaining. Loki understood. "Friend Zane, what is her name?" Thor asked "Sakura. She's worried sick, I bet. Aqua was quite irate as you heard." Zane chuckled. "Yes, Lady Aqua was quite verbal when you called her." Thor downed his beer in one go. "another." Tony gives him a refill.

What happened next was a frenzy of action. A portal opened near Peter ready to swallow him. Zane pushed him out of the way and fell into the portal yelling "don't worry! I'll find a way back!" They stood there with mouths agape. "He's got odd luck." Loki says flatly "Knowing him he will be back soon."

"Why's that?" Fury asked, "He left the picture behind." Loki points to out. "Fair point. He's got a tracker on him. Stark, is it still working?" Fury asks. Tony shows them a tablet with a weak reading. "Still working. Looks like dimensional interference. I'll work out a way to get him back."

 **Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to write. Video games and other things made finishing it difficult. Next time will have spoilers for Spiderman into the spiderverse. So, you've been warned. Teraflare is a skill from FF only used by bahamout.**


	13. Propose

**Welcome! To remind you readers, this will have spoilers for Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. You've been warned. On another note, I will be doing my own take on the ending of KHIII. Mainly, what's in the box (Hasn't been revealed yet) and what's the plan that the true mastermind had. KH4 is too far away so my plot with be moving in a different direction. Spoilers for KHIII will be in here too.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 13: Propose**

Six years after the defeat of Xehanort

3 months after warp gate travel

Morales verse

Brooklyn, New York City

Zane strolled along the crowded streets just enjoying the view. Sure, there was smog, tagged walls, and gangs, but this world had no heartless or anything like that. Instead there was super heroes and villains who clashed. Pity Spiderman was dead here, killed by Wilson Fisk if the information he got from Prowler was accurate.

Zane was broken from his musing when a cop that looked like Prowler pulled over. "Sir. Are you aware that wearing an armored vest and paldron is asking for trouble?" the cop asked getting out of the car and adjusting his hat. He looked ready to get his gun out if things turned hostile. "I'm well aware of that fact, officer?" He trailed off waiting for the officer to tell him his name.

"Davis, Jefferson Davis." The cop said tensely yet calmly. "Well Officer Davis. Not too long ago, I got in a spot of trouble and this armor saved my life more than once. I feel safer with protection even if I don't have a weapon ready." Officer Davis eased up and asked carefully, "You served in a war?" Zane closed his eyes and breathed through his nose answering, "too many of them."

Officer Davis nods "That is too true. One last question, what's with the trunk? I've seen you carry it with you every time I've pass by you." True enough Zane was wheeling a black trunk strapped down on a dolly. It looked old and interesting enough for someone to try and steal it. "It's a got something I've been meaning to take care of. Nothing illegal, just something that is personal." Zane said vaguely.

Officer Davis nods again and gets back in his car. "Travel safe. I hope you find what you're looking for." Zane smiled and said, "You too and May your heart be your guiding key." Officer Davis wasn't sure what he meant but he filed it away for later and drove off to continue patrol.

Zane unfold the map he noted where he needed to go.

Later that evening

Aunt May's house

He walked up to the house and knocked on the door. An elderly lady, Aunt May answered. "If your one of his fans then you can leave." She said with a broom in hand. "I'm not here for that reason. This might be a stretch to believe but I'm from a different dimension." Zane said and readied for her response.

She sighed and said, "Are you an alternate peter parker?" Zane chuckled "No I stopped him from getting sucked in. He's just a kid, who I worked hard to prevent from being killed, that and half the universe." She smiled "Thank you. Even if he isn't my Peter, he's someone's."

She guides him to the backyard and stops at the shed. The lock flashes a spider and the whole front opens revealing an elevator. They climb on and the door closes.

In the spider lair

As the elevator descends, lights reveal vehicles, various tech, a super computer and spider suits in display cases. Zane gets off the lift and turns when Aunt May doesn't. "Someone's at the door, be right back." The lift rises.

"well I'll rest here then." Zane lays down on the trunk and dozes off not caring about the eyes he felt staring at him from the ceiling. He'd greet them later.

Five minutes later

Zane was jolted awake when he hears someone saying, "who's the armored biker?" then someone shifted the dolly. "NO ONE touches the box!" Zane yelled with a frantic manner, brandishing a Greek Kopis(a short sword) "Easy there." Zane looked at the speaker and it was a cartoon pig. "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the box" The pig quipped backing away. "OK. What's a cartoon pig, a LA noir guy, a little girl, a robot, a hobo, and a pair of teens doing here?"

"HEY!" The hobo yells indigently. The Black-Latino kid and teen girl suppressed a chuckle. "They are other spider people." Aunt May says calmly with a hint of pity. "well, you aren't a spider so who are you?" The black and white spider-man asks.

"Just a bird who's here because I stopped a spider from being swallowed by a portal." Zane said relaxing but not putting the Kopis away. "call me Zane." They introduced themselves. The hobo was Peter B. Parker. The black and white one was Spiderman Noir. The pig was peter porker aka spiderham. The little girl with the robot was Peni parker. Apparently, her robot was a spider piloting a mech suit, which was cool. The Black-Latino kid was Miles Morales. And finally, the teen girl was Gwen aka Spider-woman.

"So, what's going on? I was relaxing after saving the universe when a portal tried to swallow my spider-man. Next thing I know am in time square with rebroken bones and no idea what's going on." Zane asked annoyed. "rebroken bones?" Miles asks. "Kid, here some advice. If a bad guy is chasing you for years because you took something, steel yourself because it's going to hurt if they catch you."

"what'd you take? A component to his master plan?" spider hobo said jokingly "bingo!" Zane said and made confetti appear using magic. "you beat him, right?" Gwen asks intrigued "define 'beat'. If sending him on a one-way trip to Tartarus counts, then yes I beat him." They stare at him. "What? HE was way to dangerous to keep alive. I have a family to think of." Zane defended himself.

"I don't agree with your method, but I get why you did it. Who was he anyways?" Spiderham asks "Thanos the mad titan." Zane answers and Miles gasps "You mean 'snap and half the universe dies' Thanos?" Miles asks. "I prevented it but yes that's him."

"that's great and all but what's the box? You act like it's made of gold or something." Spider-man Noir asks. Zane looks at the box "It contains 'hope'" He pauses then says, "and answers to some burning questions I've had." Hobo spider-man looking annoyed asked "Then why haven't you opened it yet? It's not even locked!"

"I'd have to accept the truth and that scares me more than any battle. The only thing that scares me more is losing my family again." Zane said staring at the box fingers brushing the latch lightly. "Just take a chance and look. You will regret it every day of your life if you don't." Hobo spider-man said.

Sighing Zane flips the latch. "You guys are about witness to the truth. I won't blame you if you hate me." Peni Parker shakes her head "we won't hate you." She says. "OK. Here we go!" Zane opens the box and light pours out.

Unknown place

Unknown time

They were standing in a white void as far as the eye could see. The only thing that wasn't white was two 'people'. One was female in shape but made of earth, stone and plant matter. The other was a woman that was the spitting image of Zane's mother.

"Greetings, truth seeker." The first figure said. "I am the remnant of the Gaia of your earth." The second figure continued "And I am the echo of the Alayashiki of your earth." The spider people and Aunt May found that could only watch as Zane faced the truth. "What caused my earth to be lost? Why was I sent forward in time?" Zane demanded. Gaia answered first. "The planet was dying there was no hope to prevent it."

Alaya spoke next "Humanity's desire to live demanded a solution. Sending you was to ensure humanity was never forgotten. Whether for good or bad reasons it didn't matter, so long as they were remembered." Zane growled "That still doesn't answer my questions. Why me? Out of everyone you could have chosen, you choose a person running from his troubles, not even willing to return home to make up with his mother!"

Zane broke down crying, he had little sleep for the last three mouths and the grief he hadn't completely dealt with came forth full force. The truth was so close he could taste it. Alaya and Gaia didn't say anything. The white void shifted to a messy room, Zane's room in fact.

Strewn about the room were origami cranes. Thousands of them, in boxes, bins, shelves, and every other place they could be placed. At the desk was a young Zane. He was pale and red eyed as he worked. He folded crane after crane, his hands bled staining the cranes. "Please don't let my family be forgotten! Even if I must travel to the ends of the earth, let them live on and don't let time erase them." Young Zane pleaded placing the finished blood-stained crane with its brethren and starting another.

The scene continued showing young Zane collapsing after finishing the ten thousandth crane. His mother opening the door then rushing him to the hospital. The scene fades away leaving them in the white void again. "Your vow was heard, and the offering of blood accepted. You are the keeper of memory. When you die it will be passed on to another keeper. That is why you were chosen." Alaya said.

Zane stared into space. He said nothing as the two figures bid farewell and disappear.

Back in the spider lair

They returned from the void and found no time had passed. The box lay open with scrolls filling it to the brim. Zane still hadn't moved. Peni parker patted his shoulder saying "You don't need to worry about King Pin. Just figure things out and we'll tell you when we go the portal home ready." Her robot with a crying emoji wraps her and Zane in a hug.

"The answer was there the whole time." Zane mutters. "fold a thousand paper cranes and the gods will grant your wish." After the robot ended the hug Aunt May said, "You go back to planning Zane needs some tea and a good listener." She guides Zane to the lift.

Aunt May's living room

A few hours later

"Tell me about it." She asked. Zane stared at his tea. "It was a few months after my father died. The neighbors didn't even act like he mattered. Just another death, a faceless number to the statics. I was so angry and grieving. I searched for ways to change that, then I remembered a book I read at school. 'Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes' by Eleanor Coerr."

"So, you set out to fold the cranes and nearly killed yourself in hopes you'd get your wish. That was foolish but I understand, grief is hard to deal with and can drive you to do things that don't make sense. Don't beat yourself up over it." Aunt May said. "thank you for listening. I did want to voice my doubts to anyone back home because my actions turned out to have played a hand." Zane said "For better or worse you changed lives. Never forget that. Get some sleep you look like you haven't slept right in a long time." She says then guides him to the guest room where he slept peacefully.

Two days later Mid-day

Aunt May's living room

Zane was showing the team a blue print of King Pin's building. "He's got an event happening tonight. We'll use it to sneak in and get to the super collider. He's got an express elevator in his penthouse bedroom that goes there." Zane explained

"Question! How do you know there's an event going on?" Hobo spider-man asks. "Come on out!" Zane called and three cloud creatures faded into view. They looked like clouds shaped into humanish heads wearing headsets and high-tech goggles. They even had disembodied hands in a salute. The only difference between them was the color of the gear they were wearing. One blue, one gray, and one red. "Reporting for duty!" they declared as one.

"This is my Stand 'Last Train Home'. Before you ask, a Stand is an entity that is manifested from the user's burning will. In my case, it's a Stand that can collect visual and vocal information over a wide area." Zane explained. "My question is who's who?" Miles asks. "Name's Last!" The blue one says in a laid-back way. Followed by the gray one saying, "Call me Train. And don't you dare say 'choo choo'!" The red one was laughing at Train saying, "Name's Home. Choo choo! HAHA!"

Train turned stormy black with anger and got into a brawl with Home. Last moved out of the way to avoid the brawl and started to munch on a popcorn. "Where did you get the popcorn?" Zane asked exasperated. "Bought it." Last said enjoying the show. Zane sighed. "anyways! They overheard that an event to honor Spider-man will be happening there tonight."

Train and Home's brawl escalated as they passed through the wall like a ghost. "Did that just happen?" Gwen asked blinking "Yes it did. My Stand has zero combat abilities but it's impossible to damage. A fair trade of in my opinion." Zane sighed "If only they'd stop fighting."

"This may sound bad but how do you intend to fight? Your stand is recon only and a sword won't do much against the bad guys we will be fighting." Spider-man Noir pointed out. Zane grinned and touched his armor activating it. "As you can see, I've got combat covered."

Peni inspected the armor in awe. "The feathers are so soft!" She exclaimed rubbing her face. Her robot looked hurt in a mock way prompting her to say, "I'm not replacing you. You're still cooler, no disrespect Zane." The robot looked smug.

Hours later

Super collider chamber

Zane grinned as he jumped from building to car to building as they were appearing and disappearing as the collider did its thing. "Come on. Is that all you got, Lady squid?" Zane said riling Dr. Octopus up. She growled in anger and tried to slash him up with her clawed arms. Zane grabbed them and used a magnet spell to bind her to the wall of the chamber.

"Sorry to leave you hanging but time is short." He quipped cheekily. It didn't take him long to find the others. In short order they departed for their own worlds. Miles and Zane were the only one's left. "Kid, you did great. Before I head home, I've got advice that my teacher gave me." Zane said grasping his shoulder "May your heart be your guiding key." Miles looked confused "what does that mean?" Zane laughed. "You'll find that out yourself. Geronimo!" Zane dived into the portal laughing.

2 weeks since Zane first entered the portal

Wakanda, Africa

Marvel earth

Zane dusted him self off and looked at the city of Wakanda. "OK. I'm back and in one piece. That the good news. The bad news is I'm on the wrong continent." He said to himself. Guards with spears surround him and aim their spears at him. Feeling bold Zane said, "Take me to your leader."

An hour later

Wakanda Jail

"well that worked out." Zane said bouncing a ball of the walls. He was interrupted from his boredom by two Wakandans walking up to his cell. "Black Panther, I presume?" Zane asks. The man answered with narrowed eyes "My name is King T'Challa. You presume right. Why are you here?" Zane shrugged "The portal back home spat me out at the wrong side of the planet. To be fair, I'm lucky I got home at all. I hope Stark still has my stuff." At the name the woman typed away at the device she was carrying. "Hello, I am Shuri. Are you Zane the slayer of Thanos? You have been missing for two weeks." She asked showing a file that listed basic information about him.

"damn. I got lucky with the time difference. It was three months for me. Yeah that's me." He stretches "So, can I get out of this cell?"

Avenger's tower

the next day

Tony and Zane were drinking. "I'm not much of a drinker but after that excursion I deserve one. Who knew that traveling to a parallel world would lead to saving all realities, or at least a big cluster of them?" Tony laughed "I'm glad my tracker worked like a charm."

"A tracker? When did you put that on me?" Zane asked. "when you were left here to recover. Can't have someone so interesting get lost now." Zane banged his head on the bar. "I see your point." Tony leans forward "I see you opened the box. SHIELD tried everything to open it and failed." Zane eyebrow twitched "Remind me to punch the one that took it from me. A war was started to find the damn thing." Zane said, debating how hard he'd punch Hawkeye.

"You told me that box was in a bigger box and it was lost in time and space. They you said 'hope' was in it. Don't leave me hanging." Tony pushed. "It contained the 'truth'. The cold hard truth I was half hoping I'd never find." Zane said in a bittersweet way. "The answers you got were not what you expected." Tony stated "the planet was dying, and I was one of 'lucky winners' sent to live in the new worlds. I'm the last one still alive."

Tony nodded understanding, "That's harsh. Was that all?" Zane sighed and answered "the collective unconscious of humanity and the will of the planet drafted me as the first Keeper of Memory. Afterall the hope of the future is to learn from the mistakes of the past." Tony laughed humorlessly "The past tends to come back to haunt us down the road. Any ghost coming to haunt you?"

Zane opens the trunk and pulls out a scroll. "This account from the Oracle of Delphi documents a prophecy that was never resolved. It reads as such:

 **When man and land join as one,**

 **The earth will be torn a sunder.**

 **When the truth sings and the war is done,**

 **And the rage of the Lost thunders,**

 **One shall defend the new from the old.**

And that's all it says other than the date." Zane rolls up the scroll and returns it to the trunk. "That is so vague it could mean anything. I won't put much stock into it." Tony says "If it comes true then I'll deal with it then. Sakura is waiting for me. I'm over a week late." Zane said chuckling.

A day later

San Francisco (Jackie Chan world)

Uncle's Rare Finds

Zane entered the show and noted that Tohru was at the register. "Hello Tohru. How did you come to manning the shop?" Zane greeted cheerful. Tohru looked up in surprise. "Oh! You've arrived. Sakura was worried you got lost again." Zane slumped "You get lost for a few days once and they never let you forget it." He muttered. "Jackie isn't home right now. I believe Jade was with Sakura upstairs." Tohru comments.

Anubis rushed down the stairs calling out "Princess! Where are you? Come out before Lord Zane finds out…" He trailed off as he sees Zane staring at him with arms crossed and foot tapping. "Anubis, what were you doing just now?" Zane asked calmly. Anubis stammering said "We're playing hide and seek! Yeah, hide and seek. She's a master at hiding!"

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Jade took Sakura with her to follow Jackie. Am I wrong?" Zane stated glaring at the Stand. Anubis wilted under the glare. "You were spot on my lord." Anubis was on his knees begging "Please don't scrap me! Jade is too crafty to keep track of!" Zane breathed through his nose as Tohru just sighed. "You know that Jade is always finding new ways to escape your gaze. Don't worry about your daughter. Jackie has told me she was never harmed in her escapes." He explained.

"I should have expected that. I hoped that Sakura would be more open if she interacted with someone out going like Jade. Anubis, you did your best." Zane said as Anubis praised him for his kindness repeatedly. Uncle came from his study and whacked Anubis with a broom yelling "Weapon should be like sword! Seen and not heard! One more thing, Uncle is doing important research!"

"Hello Uncle, how was Sakura?" Zane asked Uncle did a 180 and smiled "Biker Cultist! Your daughter is wonderful for shop. One more thing, sales tripled when she was on mascot duty. One more thing, she got cut of profits." Uncle said quite pleased. "One more thing, you seem less stressed." He asked inspecting Zane's face.

"So where is Jackie?" Zane asked. Uncle rubs his chin. "Jackie is looking for hidden temple of feathered serpent. Legend says there is a feathered fan that is said to bring rain." Zane paled "This is terrible! My little girl is heading into a temple that is full of death traps and dangers!" Uncle brushes it off "Uncle is sure Jackie will keep them safe."

"Fossil, Lord Zane has run off already." Anubis points out and is rewarded with a whack from the broom.

Later that day

Jackie Chan world

Somewhere in Mexico

Hidden Aztec temple of Quetzalcoatl

Zane finally found Jackie's group consisting of him, Jade, Sakura, El Toro Fuerte, and his biggest fan Paco. They were stuck in a trap filled room with and engraving on the door forward. "Chan! You better have a good reason for letting my little girl enter the temple!" His voice echoed off the walls. Jackie paled in fear. "I can explain! Jade lead her here without my knowledge!"

"El Toro who is the feather man?" Paco asked. EL Toro walks up to Zane and clapped him on the shoulder "Ave del Hogar (Bird of the Hearth)! It is wonderful to see you again. I did not know this Pequeña flor (little blossom) was your daughter. Perhaps you can solve this puzzle." El Toro said heartily.

"Let's see. 'follow the path of the wind and rise to the heavens. Grasp the wind and listen to its truth. When the rain comes down the path of the serpent will appear'. Simple enough." Zane mused. From what he saw there was spikes, spears, buzz saws, dart holes, and spinning platforms. On the wall was a wind current design winding its way up to the high roof of the chamber where a depiction of a storm cloud was.

*Play Hollow Knight ost Pale Court for mood*

"Here I go." He dawned his armor and jumped. He bounced from wall to wall avoiding traps as projectiles flew past him. As he climbed higher, he was forced to use the buzz saws as spring boards. He pogoed off them as sparks rained down from ware blade met armor. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the path he took.

In no time he was bouncing of spears and dodging a hail of darts. When he reached the top, he pushed on the storm cloud and it shifted open with a click. Inside was a conch shell that hummed with power. He put it in his bag. It seemed important.

Zane dropped down and landed in a crouch. "And that is how you beat the traps." He said dismissing his armor. "Father!" Sakura says hugging him. She looked up at him and pouted "You got lost again, didn't you?" She asked. "Yes, I did but not even being a universe away will keep me from returning, as I promised." Zane said smiling down at her. "El Toro, feather man flies like the wild itself!" Paco said animatedly.

Jade was impressed "Woah. He's almost as cool as Uncle Jackie. Maybe he can teach me how to do that." "No! Jade, that would be irresponsible and dangerous." Jackie cuts in. Before he could continue, the door onward opened. "Time to press on. This is a trial to gain the right to have the fan if it's real." Zane explained as they entered the passage.

Before them was many branching paths. "Now what?" Jade asks. Zane walked to one of the paths and stood there for a moment then moved on to the next. "What is he doing?" Paco asked. "I'm not sure." El Toro answered. "This way" Zane said pointing to one on the paths. "How can you me sure?" Jackie pointed out.

"Easy. The wind told me so. The first clue was to follow the path of the wind. There is a breeze from here, so it's the right way." Zane explained. They followed him as he used the same method to discern what was the right way at many intersections.

Twenty minutes later

They had left the wind maze and were standing in a room with platforms on the wall leading to many wheels on the upper walls. There were channels in the floor that lead to the center of the room. A stone door that looked like the face of serpent set in the floor was locked by a mechanism. On the door was an engraved message. They translated to 'Free the rain and the serpent's maw will drink'.

"this looks like a challenge of wisdom. If I turn the wrong wheel some trap is activate. If I'm right the 'rain' will come." Zane explained cheerfully. He dawned his armor again and scaled the wall ignoring the platforms completely. "The platforms are booby-trapped. I just need to find the right wheel." Zane explained as he inspected each wheel. After a few tries he found on labeled 'life' in Nahuati.

*Stop track and switch to Black Clover ost Going underwater*

"Rain was life to the crops. Without crops the people could not last as long. I hope I'm right." He turned the wheel, the door they entered from slammed shut and water poured out of the walls. In moments the room was half full and rising. Sakura yelled trying to stay afloat "Father, it said the serpent will drink." Zane dove underwater and saw the mechanism on the door was moving. He surfaced yelling "The room must fill for the door to open."

In a minute, the room filled, and the stone door slide open. Water rushed down the opening taking them with it. They were sent down a long and twisting pipe like path and landed with a thump in an echoey room.

*End track*

"That was fun." Jade says drenched to the bone. Zane was the only one not dripping wet. "That's nice and all but get off of me!" Zane growled at bottom of the pile. Jade, Sakura and Paco jumped off first. El Toro got out next revealing Jackie who was groaning from being sandwiched between the heavy El Toro and armored Zane.

Zane pushed Jackie off and stood up. Surveying the room, he noted a few key things. One, it was a circular room about 30 meters across. Two, there was piles of bones scattered about. Three, there was stone bowl sitting on a pedestal in front of what had to be the exit. And finally, there was a smell of death hanging in the air.

He carefully walked up to the bowl and translated the lettering on the rim. "'Offer song and fire to the stone or death will greet you.' That explains the bones and smell of death." Zane mused. He started pacing back and forth. "The answer has to be here. 'song and fire'."

Remembering the shell, he took it out and listened to it. There was music coming from it. "The shell is the 'song'!" Zane exclaims. Then out of nowhere infant sized stone golems streamed into the room and stolen the shell. "Give that back!" Zane yelled but they just giggled and played keep way.

An hour later

Everyone dashed about after the shell as it was tossed from one golem to another. They realized that no matter how many times they smashed the stone creatures they just repaired themselves and giggle at them. "That it! STOPAGA!" Zane roared the spell and all the creatures were frozen in time. "that was so worth the mana drain." He walked over to the shell and took it back. "I'll take that."

He walked to the bowl and set the shell in it. The creatures vanished into dust. "You stopped time?" Jade asked wide eyed "small scale time freeze that is very draining to use. Now for the 'fire'." He removed his gauntlet and slashed his palm. As the blood pooled in the bowl, the door opened. Before them was a giant colorful feather. It was bigger than a human. "Legends were off about the feathered fan. It's not feathered and it's not a fan. It is a feather." Zane joked. "There could be traps." Jackie points out.

Zane walks over and takes the feather. A light blinded them, and they found themselves outside of were the temple had been. It was simple gone. Not even a brick was left. "a self-cleaning temple, how quant." Zane comments.

The next day

Uncle's Rare Finds

Uncle stared at the feather intently. "The feather is powerful but not as legend implies. One more thing, Uncle is sure it was test by god that no passed. As time passed it was left unbeaten. Uncle thinks that feather should be hidden or returned to serpent." Uncles states. "Joy. How will I find a god that hasn't been around for a long time…" Zane trailed off as an idea hit him. "Uncle could you use a locator spell on the feather that would lead to its owner?"

Uncle scoffed "of course Uncle can. One more thing, Uncle has list of needed ingredients. One more thing, Go get them." Uncle shoves a list at Zane pushes him out of the study. Zane turned pasty white with dread. "I hope Hades is in a good mood. Because I'm coming for a visit. Maybe I should bring some of Hestia's cooking."

One month later

7 years after the defeat of Xehanort

Percy Jackson earth (Rick Riordan owns the Percy Jason books not me)

Underworld Hades throne room

"So, you enter my kingdom, my palace, my throne room to request a lock of my hair? Tell me why I shouldn't kill you where you stand?" Hades said annoyed as he sat on his throne of bones. His oily voice sent a chill down Zane's spine. "Lord Hades, I would not request it if it was not needed. I need it to locate the owner of an item that is better off returned before it causes problems." Zane said respectfully.

Hades rubbed his temples as his wife Persephone walked to his side saying "Dear, give him chance. He brought a wonderful offering." She indicted the basket of baked goods Zane got from Hestia, sitting at his feet. "Very well. Telling me what the object is and who it belongs to." Hades said sighing. "It is a feather from Quetzalcoatl. I have it stored in a safe place for now but finding the feathered serpent is the more permanent option." Zane explained.

"very well. I will grant your request, but you must complete a task for me. Bring my children to Camp Half Blood unharmed. Hades said as his wife's face showed slight distain. "Before I go, could I have some advice on what pet would be good to get my daughter?" Zane asked.

Hades laughed "get one you are willing to look after when they don't. now go." Zane departed to retrieve Hades' children.

Two month later

Westover Hall Military School

hill near the school

Zane looked at the scene at the cliffside. He sent his daughter in as a spy to on Hades kids for the last two months. Good thing too because a manticore had taken Bianca di Angelo hostage with a helicopter of mercenaries to help the getaway. There were demigods facing the manticore, a stalemate from the looks of it. He looked to the forest line and noted that the hunters showed up.

"This will be the best time to strike." Zane played a cord on his guitar "burning roller!" He declared the attack as a flaming spiked wheel with a cackling burning skull at the hub of it rolled swiftly toward the battle site.

With Sakura

Sakura watched nervously as the beast had Nico's sister hostage. "Don't worry help is coming." She said to Nico softly. Artemis and her hunters had just shown up and shot the beast when a cackling made everyone stare as a familiar spiked wheel rushed past the demigods and ripped the beast in half by running it over. The wheel turned to ash as it plunged off the cliff and land in the water.

Artemis called out "Show yourself or become a pincushion!" Father strolled into view in his armor. "Must we go through this song and dance every time we cross paths? I stopped invisagirl from doing something foolish. You can take the hat off now invisagirl." He said coolly.

Annabeth Chase took off her invisibility cap and scowled "I had a plan. Athena always has a plan." She bit out. Clearly her pride was hurt. "A foolish one. The beast could have thrown itself and you off the cliff. You didn't think of that, did you?" He pointed out. And Sakura knew he was smirking at Annabeth's scowl.

"Why are you here, male?" Zoe Nightshade, the lieutenant of the hunters demanded spiting out 'male' like it was an insult. "If you must know, I'm on a clock. I've got some kids to deliver to a safe place. I'll be on my way now." Father said flatly. He walked up to Bianca and called to Nico "Nico, I've been tasked to escort you to Camp Half Blood unharmed. Please come willing." He explained.

Zoe cut in "You will go nowhere. You humiliated the Hunters of Artemis and must pay the price." She said angrily. Father started to say something paused then said "I beat you in fair combat and you called me a cheater because you lost. I never cheated it was your pride that blinds you to the truth, you child." Father's tone was stern.

Zoe looked ready to kill him "You used outside help. Therefore, you cheated. Only a male would bring help to a one on one duel." She said bitterly. Father said nothing to her. Instead he looked at Artemis "you understand why you cannot add her to your ranks at this time, right?" Artemis nodded in understanding "Of course I will have other chances. Has your daughter changed her mind?" She asked. Father stopped cold "Sakura will never join you and you know why." He said and guided the di Angelo children away. Sakura followed them hoping the siblings would understand her intentions.

Later

With Percy Jackson

In Artemis's tent at the hunters' temporary camp

Percy sat in front of the goddess as she questioned him. Zoe stood off to the side. "Who was he? Why did you let him take them?" Percy asked demanding answers. "He is the Bird of the Hearth. Don't even try to fight him, you can't beat him." Artemis said annoyed "He can do what he did be cause a god hired him. They will reach Camp Half Blood by the end of the week."

"What about the girl?" Percy pressed as Zoe glared at him. "That girl was his daughter. They are part of a group that you don't have privilege to know about." Artemis said ending the convention. Percy was led out of the tent by Zoe.

With Zane

Two days later

The Panama Canal

On board The Crimson Hound (Zane's sailing ship. I'll give the details later in the chapter)

Zane was at the helm as they entered the Panama Canal. "You have question." He stated. Nico and Bianca stood behind him as he kept the ship steady. "You said you know our father, that's impossible he's dead." Bianca said. "your father is someone important and because of stupid laws he faked his death. He cares for you but there are people who will use you for their own gain. What's your next question?"

"Was that a real manticore?" Nico asked excitedly "Indeed it was, I can't tell you who your father is because knowing will put you in more danger. There are more monsters out there some beasts and some human." Zane answered guiding the ship to the next lock of the canal.

"Was Sakura just pretending to be friends?" Bianca's question made Zane pause. "As her father, I can't be completely sure about her choices and reasonings. But what I do know is that she is your friend. She was sent to spy on you from afar, it was her choice to befriend you two. She doesn't just become friends with someone on a whim. She was hurt too many times to do it."

"Father! We're low on rations!" Sakura's voice was heard from one of the pipes. Zane flips open the pipe next to it and replied "roger. We'll stock up at the next port." He flips the pipe closed and says, "Any more questions?" the siblings exchange looks and whisper. Nico asks "who mans the ship? It can't be just the three of you?"

"Well, the ship isn't normal, so it doesn't take as many people. Anubis is the black cloaked figure manning the crow's nest. Sakura is in the galley where food is prepared and cooked. Alice, the doll, inspects the ship for cracks and leaks. You'll find runes inscribed into the ship top to bottom. It lets me control the aspects of the ship with need for extra crew members. It's not perfect but it works." Zane pointed out. "You summoned it with a trinket. How is that possible?" Bianca asked frazzled "Magic. Yes, it's real and it's best to get used to it. It's not the weirdest thing you find." Zane points out as they exit the last gate. "we'll be arriving at our destination in three days."

Meanwhile with Percy

Camp Half Blood

Long Island Sound

They were in the Big house having a meeting about the di Angelo siblings and the fact they failed to bring them to the camp. Mr. D was drinking a Diet cola reading a wine collect catalog. Chiron started the meeting. "You said that he claimed to be tasked to bring the children here, right?" Percy nodded. "Clearly Peter's not remembering everything that happened." Mr. D looked at the wine longingly knowing that Zeus' punishment prevented him from doing so.

"Tell us again what she said about the man." Annabeth pressed "That he's the Bird of the Hearth or something. But that's not the point, he took the kids!" Percy said. Mr. D dropped his diet cola in shock and looked at Percy intently. "What did you say? The Bird is coming here! Just what I need, a kid that and her nuclear rage mode father. If you set him off, then you're on your own." Mr. D said throwing his arms up.

Chiron shuddered "Mr. D is right. Do not make him made. And the most important thing is do not ever harm his daughter." Chiron stressed with a haunted look on his face. "Who is the Bird of the Hearth? Why does he sound familiar?" Annabeth asked. Mr. D gave a look at Chiron that said: 'you deal with it'. Sighing Chiron explained "The Bird of the Hearth is a person who has assisted demigods get to camp for the past six years. He's not always around but he has never failed to get the children he's guided to the camp."

"So, he helps children. What makes him dangerous." Grover Underwood asked eating a cheez-wiz coated tin can. "He can use fire so hot you will be ash is seconds. If he wished it." Mr. D deadpanned. The silence carried on for a few minutes. "This will be a trying visit." Annabeth says.

Two days later

On board the Crimson Hound

Fifty miles from Camp Half Blood

The ship was anchored, and a storm was blowing through, so they were in the mess hall as Zane told tales of his adventures. "…and that is how I bested the Aztec temple." Zane finished. "That was so cool. Well the almost drown bit wasn't but the rest was." Nico said. "What did you do with the feather?" Zane chuckled "It's safe and once this job is done, I can return it. The god didn't intend for anyone beat the last challenge. The temple was built to spite some foolish mortal."

"I don't think that the god had time stopping in mind when they made the traps." Bianca points out. "True but that's their fault. What story do you want to hear next?" Nico asked a question that stopped the cheery mood in its tracks. "What about the Keyblade war?" Zane looked at him and sighed "I guess it's time I told what happened at that place. I haven't even told Sakura this story."

Flashback to the end of Keyblade war.

Seven years ago

Scala Ad Caelum

Zane clashed blades with Xehnort. He wanted to be the one to beat him but, in his heart, he knew Sora was the one that had the best chance. "You have grown powerful, that is commendable. It matters not!" The old man said as Zane felt something go through his gut. Looking down, he saw the X-blade stabbing him. "Zane! Hang in there!" Sora called from behind him. Zane had a crazy idea. Acting on it, he gripped the X-blade, holding it in place.

Xehnort tried to pull it free but Zane hade a death grip on it. "You aren't going anywhere. Now Sora! Blast him!" He yelled. Sora nodded hesitantly and fired an attack. Zane didn't know what it was, but he was thrown with the X-blade still in his gut near the edge of the tower.

When he awoke, he saw the ghost of Master Eraqus commanding Xehnort to give up the X-blade. "Master Eraqus! How are you here?" Zane asked and gave up trying to stand up after a lance of pain reminded him of what he did. "Rest Zane. You must forgive me. I was a terrible teacher." Master Eraqus said. "No that not true! You taught me some much in the short time I train under you. I'm sorry I never got to save you. If I stay a little longer then." Zane didn't finish.

Zane in that moment realized what he had to do. "Xehnort, you have caused so much grief and sorrow but, my heart is telling me you had good intentions. I forgive you but I will not forget what you did." Zane said feeling better. Xehnort laughed "truly you have risen higher than I imagined. It's time for me to rest." HE gave the X-blade to Sora and left for the afterlife with Master Eraqus. Zane smiled sadly as they passed on. His vision darkened as sleep beckoned him.

End of flashback

"And that was how it ended." Zane gripped the cup so hard the only reason it didn't break was because of the runes reinforcing it. "I learned he was just another puppet in a bigger plan. I just could bring myself to hate him after learning that." Zane fell silent after that. "You did your best Father." Sakura comforted him.

"Could you tell about the time you discover one of the secrets to your ice cream?" Sakura asks knowing this will cheer him up. Zane cracked a smile. And told the tale of an ice cream vat, a clumsy moogle, and a crate of potions.

Ten minutes later

"…I tasted the batch and to my surprise it was perfect. The potion added the need element to the ice cream. The poor moogle was so worried I'd yell at him, he fainted was I thank him." Zane said laughing. The others with were laughing ever the stink in the mud Anubis cracked a smile at it.

A few hours later

On board the Crimson Hound

Fifty miles from Camp Half Blood

Captain quarters

*Play Air Gear OST II - 09 - Chain [Acoustic Cowboy mix] *

Zane stared at a ruined chest plate in a display case. It was warped and there was a thin hole in the middle of it. This was what saved him from being killed by Xehanort in that battle. It diverted the X-blade a few inches lower missing his lungs and heart. He knew that his blood still stained it.

He thought back to when he blacked out in the battle. He didn't tell them this, but it was in that moment his Stand awakened. The desire to find the truth was so strong that he refused to die there. It's strange how his fatal flaw of obsessing over finding answers to his problems, was what saved his life.

"An odd piece to keep, if you ask me." Someone said near the doorway. Zane turned to see Poseidon, god of the sea and other things. He looked like a he was a laid-back fisherman with his Hawaiian shirt and shorts. His trident was leaning on his shoulder. "Ah. It's just you." Zane said annoyed. "That piece is all that's left of my first armor. It did its job. Why are you here?"

Poseidon sighed "could you try not to harm my son? He snuck onto the ship a minute ago." Zane turned to the message pipes as Anubis yelled from one of them. "Lord Zane I have captured an intruder and thrown him in the brig." Zane answered back "Roger that. Keep him chained up but don't harm him. He's just a misguided brat." You could hear the grin from Anubis' response "Crystal, my Lord"

Zane turned to the sea god. "Is that satisfactory?" only to find the sea had left behind a barnacle covered treasure chest and a note. Zane read the note: 'I hope this will repay the troubles Percy caused. -Poseidon' Zane sighed exasperated. "This better be worth it." He pried it open, to find a large egg. "Lovely. Just what I needed." He deadpanned and closed again.

*End track*

Crack of dawn

The brig

Zane entered the brig in his armor bracing himself for the headache that was coming. Percy was yelling from his cell. "I demand water! I have rights!" Zane mentally activated the shock runes. Percy yelped in pain. "quiet brat! You're lucky that daddy dearest bailed you out. Now what possessed you to sneak on an unknown ship and think that you'd get off Scott free?" Zane questioned.

"It might have been Luke spying on the camp." Percy said but Zane cut him off "So you snuck on board without back up or a plan. That will get you killed faster than Zeus' masterbolt can strike you dead." Percy just glared. He couldn't do much more being chained to the wall. "You'll get water when we reach Camp Half Blood. Can't have you trying to escape, can we?" Zane turned to wake out.

"Where are the di Angelo siblings?" Percy demanded. Zane stopped and said "And the truth is revealed. You knew this wasn't Luke's ship. You wanted to take the siblings and bring them to camp so you could prove something. Glory? No, that's not your reason. You don't trust me, not at all." Zane paced. "Your loyalty to the Camp and your friends led you to think that the siblings needed to be with someone you trust. That is an admirable reason but, you screwed up big time. This ship is a one of the places where Sakura can act like herself without worry of harm."

Zane slammed the bars of the cell with a loud clang. Percy flinched back. "She trusts me to insure this ship is safe. I can count on two hands how places that she feels safe enough to let her guard down completely and I will not let a brat like you ruin that for her. We will be arriving at the camp in a few hours. Think of what I said." Zane said and strode off leaving Percy alone.

Four hours later

Camp Half Blood

Anubis threw a bound and gagged Percy in front of Chiron. "Keep a better eye on your charges." Zane said annoyed. "He shall be punished accordingly." Chiron said apologetically. "I assume that you filled them in on what they needed to know?" Zane nodded. "Bianca was a little skeptical but, she came around. On the other hand, Nico soaked it up like a sponge. There were a few side trips on the way, but you know how it gets." Zane explained.

Chiron chuckled "The children do enjoy the sightseeing you allow. Will you be staying for the capture the flag game?" Zane thought about it. "Sorry but I can't stay for long. Oh right." Zane removed the gag and untied Percy. He then walked off to the hearth to have a chat with Hestia.

At the hearth

As he expected, she was tending the flame. He sat down. "another successful mission. How many is that now?" He asked. "562 children. You're are doing a wonderful job." She says supportively. Zane sighed sadly, "That number should be much lower, but the gods keep having kids. Half of them are born from lust not love. I try to look on the bright side but time and time again I'm proven right. The gods have trouble caring about mortals. Don't get me wrong, they've matured, but some habits are hard to break."

Hestia listened as he vented. She understood where he was coming from. "The gods will do what they want. All you can do is try to make the children feel like their life can get better." She said soothingly. The peaceful moment was shattered when Annabeth spotted him. "Thank you for not harming Percy." She said bowing slightly.

"you don't need to bow. It's one of my jobs as an agent of Hestia. It's been nice to talk to you in person, my goddess." He says the last part to Hestia. Leaving Annabeth stunned. Hestia smiled and vanished from view. Zane stood up have dusted off his clothes. "see you later invisagirl." He says amused.

A few hours later

Camp Half Blood

Sparing ring

"So, you're challenging me again. This is the fifth time we've done this." Zane says part amused and fed up with the huntress' delusions. "Your defeat will be swift, male!" Zoe said with her hunting knives ready to draw his blood.

Zane sighed and said to the crowd of hunters and demigods watching "For those in the dark, I have beaten her in a one on one duel fair and square. Her pride deluded her from accepting defeat. I used skills I had. I'll only use my armor, and sword to prove a point."

He blocked her attack with his Kopis. "You're are lively as ever." He quips amused. She growls and backs off, looking for weak points. Zane dodged, blocked, or deflected her strikes. "You're getting sloppy. Don't let your anger and hurt pride control you." He said.

Her strikes got better as she took his advice begrudgingly. "Good, good. Show me your limits." He praised. Zane's attacks were aimed at her joints. Seeing his chance, he punched her in the gut. She coughed up blood as air was forced out of her lungs. Zane did a police takedown and pined her to the ground, then kicking her knives away from her. The duel had lasted only a few minutes at most, yet it was a fun one in Zane's opinion. Zoe's limbs were pinned, and her arms were forced behind her back.

"concede." He told her and she hated every minute of it. "As you can see, Even the most skilled and powerful enemy can be beaten with right tactics. That is why I won all five times. Use your enemies' mistakes against them." Zane says as he lets Zoe get up. "You will not win next time." She said with less hatred than before. She limbed away to patch herself up.

"Are there any questions about the fight?" Zane asks. "How strong are you?" Annabeth asked, "Strong enough to survive most battles." He answered as more hands were raised. He spent the next hour answering questions as here prepared for departure.

An hour later

Beach near Camp Half Blood

Anubis was hauling crates of strawberries on the ship. Nico was begging Zane to stay. "Can't you stay longer?" Mr. D shivered at that notion "I'll be happy was he leaves; the hunters are enough trouble." Zane ruffles Nico's hair and says "Kid, do you remember that song I sung?" Nico thought back and said "'Bink's Sake' (Yes the song from One Piece. I don't own it.), right?" "bingo! As the song says, 'Say goodbye should we depart, and keep your memories in your heart'. There are more places to visit and more people to help. We'll keep in touch. May your heart be your guiding key." Zane said and boarded the ship. The gang plank was pulled back on the ship and the sails unfurled.

Bianca and Nico took in the majesty of the ship. It was a Galleon ship with three masts and white sails. The figurehead was of a phoenix and the Jolly Roger (the symbol on the flag) was of a grinning dog with a crimson spear and staff crossed under it.

As it moved out to sea, they heard Zane singing 'Bink's Sake' with six other voices joining him. Mr. D eyebrow was twitching. "blasted song, blasted punishment" He grumbled as he was reminded of his punishment by the song.

A few days later

Hade's throne room

Zane stood in front of Hades, who sat on his throne and Persephone, who sat in her own smaller throne next to his. Sakura stood next to her father with a bundle of letters. "The task is complete." Zane said. Hades gave him a vial with a black hair in it. "thank you." After Zane had said this Sakura stepped forward. "umm, Lord Hades, Lady Persephone." She said nervously. "What is it, child?" Hades asked. "these are for both of you. They're letters from your kids." She presents the letters to them.

"both?" Persephone asks with an arced brow. Sakura nods "Yes my lady, they figured out who you were on their own on the way to camp and wrote letters to be delivered to you." She explained "They want to meet both of you in person, before they die of course." She adds quickly.

Persephone was shocked. "Perhaps it will happen. Was it you who cleaned up the Styx?" She asked Zane. Zane looked proud. "Yep. I saw how polluted it was with the lost hopes, dreams, and wishes of people who died, so I asked the Styx if she'd let me clean the river." Zane shivered "She's one scary nymph and very happy to let me do it. Using my sealing jar, I cleaned the whole river with her help." Zane holds up the jar he had used as a battery against Thanos. It's glowed with an aura of something intangible but pleasant feeling.

"I assume that she let you keep what took?" Hades said. "Spot on. This will be a much better mana battery than using curses." Zane comments. He suddenly paled, "I forgot about the bomber!" before they could ask what he met he grabbed his daughter yelling "Got to stop a sociopathic killer that makes bombs!" Hades just sighs "Just what I need more souls." Persephone smiled as she read one of the letters. "Dear, read the letters." She suggested.

Two weeks later

Jojo world

town of Morioh (I don't own JoJo's bizarre adventure. Spoilers for part 4 of the anime)

"Last Train Home. Where is that blonde bomber right now?" Zane asked as he perched on a roof top. As he is relayed the information, he jumps from roof to roof Kira was only a few blocks away. "Anubis get to the locate I sent to you asap." Zane said into his phone. It took him a few minutes to reach a roof with a view of the killer. Zane knew it was him by the white catman Stand behind him.

He was facing a silver haired kid with his stand and there was an injured man bleeding out off to the side. Zane narrowed his eyes at the 'toy tank' Stand that was there too. Zane dawned his armor and dropped into the fray. He grabbed the toy like Stand and throw it into the atmosphere with a might yell. "Begone!"

"hol T. Master, the shitty tin can Stand is dealt with." The kid's stand said. "I see that Echoes ACT3. Who is he?" The kid said. Anubis finally arrived "Lord Zane! How shall I help you?" Zane punched the killer into a wall and said. "Protect them and don't let them die. That's an order!"

Zane created a hexagonal barrier with a set of rune stones he flicked around them. "It's just you and me, Yoshikage Kira." Zane declared. Kira flinched back. "You will wish you never said that name. You must die!" Kira promised. "Kira may have lost bomb type two: Sheer Heart Attack but Killer Queen will be more than enough."

"He can make bombs out of whatever his stand touches!" The kid yells worried. "Lord Zane will not fall to such tricks!" Anubis boasted. He looked at the injured man. "Jostar? Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Anubis cackled. "you're lucky Lord Zane ordered me to keep you alive." He pulled out a Hi-potion and poured it down Jotaro's throat.

"Koichi! What's going on?" a kid with a pompadour rushes onto the street and another kid follows him. "Josuke! Okuyasu! The killer is fighting this guy called Zane!" the silver hair kid, Koichi said. "Mister Jotaro is injured." Josuke summons his Stand, Crazy Diamond. "Hang in there, old man." Josuke says as he finishes healing him.

With Zane in the barrier

*Play KH ost Tension Rising*

Kia tried to use Killer Queen's power to destroy the barrier but was shocked when it failed. "What! Killer Queen's power is unbeatable!" Kira yelled as he jumped out of the way. "sorry but the only way out is for one of us to die." Zane said savagely "And you won't be the one to leave."

Zane's weapon of choice this battle was just his armor. He couldn't risk using his weapons because Kira would just make bombs out of them. He dodged and deflected Killer Queen's attacks. His arms ached from the repeated blows, his legs weren't much better. He just needed an opening. He cloaked his hands in fire and slashed Killer Queen across the face.

Kira stumbled as blood gushed from his slashed face. "That the weakness of Stand users. The damage to the stand is reflected on the user!" Zane said Killer Queen presses down it's finger, activating the rubble turned bomb at Zane's feet.

Kira laughed "Kira always wins!" Zane shots out of the smoke and shatters Kira's right elbow with a well-placed attack. "How dare you!" Kira roared in pain as his right arm hangs limp. "You should be dead!" Zane scoffed "You'll find that fire is my friend and bombs like yours are just fancy fire." Zane said amused hiding the grimace of pain.

"No! KIra will not lose! Kira roared in defiance. "Oh, shut up." Zane punches Kira's chest, pulling his heart out in the process. "Thank you for the heart." Zane says dropping the heart into a jar to keep it fresh. Yoshikage Kira, stared at Zane in shock as life left his eyes. He fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood, speaking his last words "Kira just wanted a peaceful life."

The barrier faded away as Zane stared at the corpse. "Goodbye Yoshikage Kira. May you get your just desserts."

*End track*

"That was badass man!" Okuyasu said clapping him on the back then jumped back waving his hand "HOT HOT HOT!" Josuke laughed at his friend's misfortune. "Zane, was it? Thank you for the help." Joturo said getting up. "Lord Zane prevails again." Anubis cheers "so it is you. Hello again, mutt." Joturo said to Anubis. "I see you found a new master to grovel before."

Anubis growled but was silenced by Zane punching him into the ground. "That's enough, Anubis. I didn't bring you here to antagonize them." Zane ordered. "Yes, Lord Zane." Anubis says with the ground muffing his voice. "good grief. Why do you keep him around?" Joturo asks adjusting his hat. Zane used a water spell, cooling his armor off slowly and washing off any blood. "Mostly protecting my daughter. He's rather chatty but he does a decent job."

After his armor was cooled down, he deactivated it. "Note to self: Bombs don't hurt me, but blast waves still do." Zane called his Stand. "Last Train Home, front and center!" The three clouds zoomed to him and saluted "What's the mission boss?" Train asks. "Find if there were any witnesses." Zane orders. "Roger that!" the clouds say and zoom off.

"What's with your Stand? It looks like it can't hurt a fly." Okuyasu says scratching his head. "Last Train Home has zero combat abilities." Zane said. "I see. Its recon ability is powerful enough to make up for it. What's its max range?" Joturo asks. "900 meters in all directions." Zane says leaning against a wall. "What! That's insane." Koichi says.

"If that's your Stand then what the hell was the stuff you did earlier?" Josuke asked confused. "Magic and a lot of hard work." Zane says mysteriously. "Oh, come on! Magic isn't real." Josuke says annoyed. "Like Vampires aren't?" Zane shots back. "Will someone be cleaning this place up?" Zane points out the blood and smashed up street. There were scorch marks and several holes.

"The Speedwagon Foundation will deal with it." Joturo answered "you held back in the fight, didn't you?" Zane shrugged "I didn't want to burn the town to ashes, and I prefer not to kill." Koichi was shocked "But you ripped his heart out!" Zane flicked a fireball that turned the corpse and the pooled blood to ash. "Some people are too far gone to keep alive. I did my research on Kira. His hobby was dating disembodied female hands." Zane said revolted.

Zane paused then said "There's some guy with a green headband headed this way. You know him?" "that Rohan! He's an ally." Koichi said. Rohan runs in throwing a page at Zane. "Heaven's Door!" He says. Zane's face opens like a book. Pages of words were on full display. "Let's see who you are." Rohan mutters ignoring the looks the others were giving him. Zane gave and annoyed eye roll.

"Name: Zane Laskaris. Age: 29,923 years old. That can't be right." Rohan listed as the others were flabbergasted "Ah, here the answer. Due to time travel you are technically only 29 years old. Most fascinating." Rohan mused. "Are you done yet?" Zane asked. "Not quite. So, you serve the goddess Hestia. Thank you for that interesting inspiration." Rohan closes Zane's face and the seam vanishes like it was never there.

"I needed to know if you were an ally or not." Rohan says as he inspects the area. "You don't mind if I put you in my next book? What I gleamed from you will be very useful." Koichi shakes his head. "Rohan is a mangaka." He explained. Zane nodded in understanding "makes sense. You know what not to write about. Do you know where Cinderella beauty salon is? Dr. Aya Tsuji offered to watch my daughter after I told her I was hunting for Kira."

"I know where that is." Koichi said. Getting up, Zane said "lead the way."

Five minutes later

"You have a darling little girl. Did you get the killer?" Dr. Aya Tsuji asked as Sakura was inspecting everyone's Stand. "He's dead and I know." Zane said smiling. Dr. Aya asked a question that was on her mind "Are you aware that your daughter can see Stands?" Zane sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. "She does have a Stand. It's a skill she has that lets her see things most miss. I don't understand it completely."

Dr. Aya smiled "I offer to change her hair to be closer to yours, you know?" Zane chuckled and looked at his dark auburn hair in the mirror. "She's fine with brown hair." Zane comments. Dr. Aya nods "She said something along those lines."

"Father. Their Stands are cool but yours is my favorite!" She says as hugs him. "Come on! How is a trio of clouds better than my Crazy Diamond?" Josuke says in disbelief. Echoes ACT3 gives the answer "because they ar Y." Sakura beams nodding. They laugh at that answer.

Joturo walked up to Zane and said in his ear, "let's chat outside." Zane followed him out side of the salon. "Have you heard of spirit photography?" "I'm aware of it. What of it?" Joturo hands over a photograph. It showed a female office worker. She had red hair and wore glasses. She looked like she didn't care about life, just going through the moments. She was in a workplace tapping on a computer. Behind her was a window with something old. Beyond the glass was a patch of swirling energy with what liked like eyes.

"What were you looking for?" Zane asked memorizing the photo. "possible dangers. Most of them were of an old man with an arrow. We'll deal with that. This one was the oddball. Any ideas?" Joturo explained. Zane stowed it away. "I'll do some investigation on my own. Good luck dealing with the remaining problems."

A week later

Smash Mansion

Gates of Hell Bar

Zane sat at the bar and asked "Rodin, I've got a mystery egg from a sea god. Any idea what will hatch from it?" Rodin raised a brow and come out from behind the bar to examine the egg. "This is a surprise. I have never seen this kind of egg outside of the beast's nest. What you have here is a Mist Dragon egg."

"that Mist Dragon?" Zane asked fearfully. "Yes, that Mist Dragon. Unlike the summon from the game, there's more than one of the beasts. Finding them is harder than finding a needle in a planet sized pile of fake needles. They can become mist itself and have a habit of living in places that will kill you before you even get close to finding the dragon let alone the nest." Rodin said checking the egg health.

"It's alive and healthy. It could hatch any day in the next two weeks, if I had to guess." He mused as the egg squeaked and rocked a little. "How long has it been squeaking?" He asked. "Only a few days at most." Zane said. "I think it's trying to sing but it's not very good." Rodin laughed "Were you singing to it? Because if so then it's imprinted on you already. The Mist Dragon can find it's family by sound only. Handy for when they're in Mist Body mode."

Zane slumped forward. "I have no idea how to raise a dragon, let alone one that can hide as mist. Any ideas?" Rodin shrugged as he went behind the bar again, "find a dragon that's willing to help you. There's not much information about the Mist Dragons. Anything else I can help you with?" Getting an idea, Zane pulled out the photo. "What can you tell me about this." Rodin scrutinized the photo. Then looked at Zane. "Your luck is insanely odd. You get a rare dragon egg then you show me a photo of someone that may be able to help you out."

"Who is she?" Zane asked confused. "She's Kobayashi, a normal human, as far as I know, that rumor has it, got a Dragon as a maid. Not sure why or how but that's what my contacts told me. I'll give you the directions to reach the general area." Rodin says rolling out a star map. A needle shoots out of Zane's pouch glowing green and floats over a point on the map.

"What's the chi tracking spell for?" Rodin asks. "The location of the feathered serpent." Zane answers wondering why the spell had failed when Uncle cast it a week ago but was working now. "Well, you killed two birds with one stone, because that's near Kobayashi's location." Rodin says as Zane hands some cash to him. "Thanks for the information." "Pleasure doing business with you."

Five minutes later

Smash Mansion

Near Bowser's Room

Zane knocked on Bowser's door. Bowser opened the door and said, "You need someone to watch Sakura." It was a statement. Bowser volunteered, from time to time, to watch Sakura when Zane left on trips to questionable places. "where is it this time?" He asked. "Dragons." Zane said flatly.

Bowser Jr and Sakura run as the fathers pick up their kids without looking. "What have you been told about running in the halls?" Zane asks. At the same time the kids say. "not to." A cracking noise alerting them to the egg deciding to hatch.

Mist billowed out of the dime sized hole in the egg. "Is it a dud?" Bowser Jr asked confused. The mist circles around them almost confused. Zane sings a few lines of a song and the mist specks in delight condensing into an adorable serpentine dragon the size of a small dog. Its silvery white scales glinted as the dragon cooed coiling around Zane's neck.

"She's beautiful." Sakura says with sparkling eyes. The dragon looked at Sakura and squealed, remembering Sakura's voice. In the Dragon's mind, Sakura was her sister and Zane her father. She didn't trust the strange creatures with them but if Father was calm around them, then they were not enemies.

Zane carefully put the egg shell away. "Your name shall be Aria." Aria whistled in happiness. She wrapped herself around Zane's neck and fell asleep, looking like a scaly scarf. "Best of luck on your trip." Bowser says as Sakura and Bowser Jr go back to playing.

A few days later

World where Kobayashi lives

Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture

Zane was standing near an intersection. On one hand, he could follow the tracker needle and return the Feather, which attracted heartless like crazy. Or, he could find Kobayashi. "what do you think, Aria?" Zane consulted his newest charge. She just chirped and asked for food wordlessly.

"Food it is. I think that we passed an open market a few blocks ago." Zane mused as he backtracked. Aria cheered and pretended to be a scarf. It didn't take long to find the market and buy a basket of blueberries. As he left, he ran into someone and they both toppled sending bags flying. Zane, in a feat of agility snagged the falling bags without spilling anything.

Aria squeak happily at the show as the person he bumped into stared at Aria. "It's a lizard." Zane tried to explain to hide the truth as he took in the appearance of the person. She had reddish blonde hair in two pig tails and her eyes were orangey amber with slit pupils. She was wearing a maid café outfit that did not hide her curves. Wait a second! Slit pupils? Maid outfit? Oh boy, this come go quite badly.

She eyes drifted to the photo of Kobayashi that had in his hand. She snatched and started to radiate a dangerous aura. "Where did you get this?" She asked calmly. Zane knew he was in danger if he said the wrong thing. "It's a spirit photograph. I was sent to investigate why she showed up in it!" Zane said worried.

She nodded then slugged him so hard he was out cold in an instant. Aria hissed at her but cowered when she glared back.

An hour later

Kobayashi's apartment

Zane awoke to Aria pleading his to wake up. "Did you get the name of the angry female that hit me?" He asks groggily. "her name is Tohru" a flat sounding voice said. That had to be Kobayashi. She looked just like the photo. Zane noted he was on a couch. "I'm sorry about Tohru but don't you think it's odd that you've out a photo of me." She asked drinking a beer.

"Are you a dragon? Your child was so angry she sounded like a screeching cat." She said throwing Aria a blueberry. Aria snatched out of the air and chewed it content. It was so adorable. "I'm not a dragon. Just a human with an affinity for fire that is higher than most." Zane says.

"He's a dog of a god. That what he is!" Tohru says insulting him from around the corner of the doorway. She was ono longer hiding her horns and tail. "So, what if I'm a dog then I'm proud to serve Hestia! At least she is considerate enough to ask if I want to do a mission!" Zane yells at her. "That's enough!" Kobayashi cuts off the argument before it escalates. "Tohru, let him explain his reasons." Zane collected his thoughts

"A few years ago, I stumbled upon a town with a lot of missing people. I didn't think much of it at the time because I was looking for something. I did some digging over the years and uncovered a sinister truth about the town. There was a killer on the loose." Zane explained. "I was delayed because of a worse killer hunting me among other problems."

"where does getting a photo of me play a part?" Kobayashi asked as Tohru glared at Zane. "After I tracked the killer in the town down and dealt with him, I was given the photo by a Joester." Zane said.

Tohru stopped glaring and said "oh! That makes sense. The Joestar clan are an odd bunch of humans. No one goes to that world because nether Faction wants to deal them and the chaos that follows them."

"That makes so much sense." Zane says nodding "Anyways, the other reason I was looking for you is some information about Mist Dragons. A sea god bribed me with Aria's egg because his demigod son acts before he thinks." Tohru blinks "Your luck is as bad as the Joestars."

Zane's tracking needle rises and shoots into the door of the apartment. There was a knock on the door moments later. "Tohru get the door please." Kobayashi asks. Tohru walks off and answers the door. Zane hears her say "Lucoa! What bring you here?" another female voice answered "I sensed something odd and tracked it here. Can I come in?"

Zane spots the person and was annoyed. What was with supernatural beings being so inhuman with their 'beauty'. The visitor was a dragon based on the horns she had. Her hair was blonde that ended in green and turquoise tips. Zane forced himself not to look any lower, reminding himself he was married.

The tracker needle was following her like a lost puppy. "Your Quetzalcoatl? Well that saves a lot of trouble." Zane says. Lucoa opens her eyes surprised. Her eyes were heterochronic. "I beat your death traps and got the Feather. Please take it back. It's a heatless magnet." Zane explains. The dragons scowl. "Stupid bugs are always causing problems." Tohru grumbled. Lucoa on the other hand was looking at Zane intently. "how did you beat my traps? I made it impossible to pass." She asked.

Zane laughed hard. "The first one remined me of the Path of Pain from Hollow Knight. The second one was a maze with an easy if overlooked solution. The third one was a little bit difficult because I climbed the walls instead of using the platforms and the flooding machinic was annoying. The last one was completely grating on the nerves." Zane listed.

Lucoa was torn between congratulating him and being annoyed that he bested the traps. "Oh well. It did it's job in the end. That will show that fool not to call knowledge useless." Lucoa says smiling. Zane pulls the Feather out and presents it to her. When she took it, it condensed into green jewel, the size of a golf ball, with swirling energy in it.

"Here you go dear." She gives it to Aria who sniffs it curiously, then starts to play with it. "a perfect start to your horde of treasure. You're looking for tips on how to raise the dear, right?" She asks. "Pretty much." Zane answers. "Here you go." She zaps Zane feeding information directly into his brain. "That hurt a lot." He grumbled, wincing and holding his head.

"Of course, it does. I gave you enough knowledge to fill thousands of books easily. Can't have that information being lost to time now, can we?" She said amused. "Question. DO you want the still beating heart of a killer?" Zane asked out of nowhere. Lucoa smiled saying "You shouldn't have. I'm no longer accepting offering like that. I'm flatter none the less."

"EEEH! Why are you carrying something like around?" Kobayashi yelled disgusted. "I was searching for an Aztec god. Still beating hearts were all the rage back then. Besides I ripped it out of a killer. DO you prefer I accidently burn down a town because you don't like my plan to kill him safer?" Zane defended. "Did you have to kill him?" She asks. "He made bombs on the fly. He's better off six feet under." Zane points out.

"That takes skill. I'm impressed." Tohru says with a fanged blood thirsty grin. "Kobayashi sighed resigned "Is it at least in a container?" Zane nods. "Good it stays in it." She says sternly. Zane salutes "Yes Ma'am!" He jokes.

"I'm home Kobayashi!" A young voice says as a little girl with horns, a puff ball tipped tail and white hair walked in. "Kanna meet Zane and Aria." Kobayashi says. "Hello." Kanna greets "It's nice to meet you too." Zane says patting her head. "Aria, it's time to go." Aria took her perch and Zane put the wind jewel in his pouch. "Thanks for the help. I might come back with my family for a visit."

 **Author's Note: This was a long chapter to research and write. With Kira dead, there will be more stand users surviving the coming battles they will face. The truth of what happened to his earth has been revealed but Prophecy will bring trouble in the coming days. That's it for now. See you next time!**


	14. SCARECROW

**Welcome to the next chapter! There will be a mini 'tournament arc' of sorts. Basically, Zane will be doing a series of tests to get access to an artifact because of the laws of the world it's on. There will be spoilers for Hunter X Hunter. After that, He'll be traveling to a couple other worlds. There will be spoilers for the shows those worlds are based on.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own what's mine. Everything else is someone else's.**

 **Chapter 14: SCARECROW**

Seven years ADX (After the defeat of Xehanort)

World of Nen

Underground tunnel

Zane was listening the conversations around him as the applicants prepared themselves for the Hunter's Exam. He heard his number being mentioned by, #16, Tonpa 'the rookie crusher'. "The armored guy over there is, #1, Bird of the Hearth. I don't know much about him. He tried the exam eight years ago but was disqualified after an Examiner said some choice words about his family. The Examiner's face was caved in and he's permanently drinking all his food and drink through a straw. To add Insult to injury, he was backlisted from being an examiner ever again." Tonpa said shrugging. "What do you mean he was blacklisted?" A lanky older looking teen with glasses, #403, yelled.

"Turns out, the ex-examiner was breaking some rules, fixing the odds, taking bribes, things like that. Armored birdy over there exposed him then the fool said something he'd soon regret. The next you know, he was embedded a foot into the ground in his own personal crater. The Bird was standing over him with a bloody fist and an aura of doom like you wouldn't believe." Tonpa said shivering.

A blonde kid holding tonfas, #404, gripped them harder. "There is a very good reason for that, I am sure. What else can you tell us?" Tonpa said nothing for a moment then in a cold voice he said, "He was holding back with that punch." Spikey haired kid wearing green and carried a fishing rod, #405, nodded "He understood that killing him was unnecessary. Maybe I should talk to him." #404 and #403 griped his shoulders. "Gon! Didn't you hear what he did? If you piss him off, he'll turn you into paste!" #403 said panicked.

"Gon, Leorio may be overreacting but is it worth the risk to approach him?" #404 said carefully. Gon shook his head "Kurapika, he's not that kind of person. Trust me." Gon says smiling as he shrugged off their hands and approached Zane.

Extending his hand, Gon said "Hello there. My name is Gon Freecess. What's yours?" Zane looked at the hand then Gon's face. He was smiling warmly, like he was greeting a friend. "Zane Laskaris." Zane says shaking Gon's hand. "Wow. Your armor looks amazing did you make it?" Gon asks curiously "I helped make it stronger but most of the work was done by master craftsmen." Zane answers.

A ring tune (final fantasy victory fanfare) interrupted the conversion. Zane takes out his GummiPhone, "Hello. This is Zane speaking." He answers. Josuke was on the other line. "Zane! Don't come back! Kira's father wants you dead!" He said before the call was cut short. Zane put the GummiPhone away. "What was that about?" Gon asked.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Zane answers. The Examiner of the first phase Satotz, who seemed to be mouthless, told them to follow him to the second phase of the exam.

An unknown length of time later

Outside of the tunnel

"Welcome to Milsy Wetlands. It's also called Swindler's Swamp as you will soon understand why." Satotz says as the ones who passed phase one caught their breath. Someone stumbled near them dragging a creature. "Don't listen to him! He's a man faced ape! They disguise themselves as humans to trick you into following them to your death." He throws the 'corpse' he was carrying to show them it was an ape with a human face. The people started to mutter believing what he said.

Satotz said nothing as they questioned who they should believe. Zane walked up to Satotz and inspected his face. He pulled on Satotz cheeks then nodded to himself. He walked over to the newcomer and the people questioned what he was doing. When he was a few feet from the man and the 'corpse' he punched him hard. The man was uppercut and sent flying into the swamp. The 'corpse' ran away, revealing it wasn't dead.

"Was there a point to pulling my face?" Satotz asked. "No. but it made the beast sweat." Zane answered amused. Satotz snorted "Very well. This way." He leads them into the swamp. Zane had no trouble with any of the inhabitants. They were not a problem, or they were too afraid to mess with him.

In about five minutes He reached the sight of the second phase. There was cooking stations and the examiners were seated in front of the mansion. "Your ahead of the others." The giant sumo of a man, Buhara, said. The normal sized in comparison examiner, Menchi scrutinized him. "Weren't you the one that caved in someone's face?" She asked. Zane raised an unseen eyebrow at the five braids hair style she had going. "I'm not apologizing." He said flatly.

Menchi shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyways. I hope your cooking is up to my standards." She grinned.

Forty minutes later

Zane was hunting Great Stomp, the only source of pork in the area. The challenge was to make a pork dish with what was available in the swamp. He spotted the giant pig as it crunched bones. The rest of the herd was ten meters away. Stealth kill was the best choice. Zane jumped above the pig and drove his Kopis into the beast's head killing it instantly. Hefting the pig, he walked back to cook it.

20 minutes later

He was doing the finishing touches on his creamy ranch pork chops on rice. People were just roosting the pig without caring about the taste. Zane shook his head and brought his food to be judged. "tell us about your dish." Menchi says inspecting the dish with her eyes and nose first. "What you have is a creamy ranch pork chop cooked medium rare. The rice was cooked in the pork broth and seasoned with some herbs and spices. Enjoy." Zane says.

Buhara eats it all in one go. "You pass. Try it Menchi, it's got feeling." Buhara says. Menchi skeptical takes a bite and freezes. "You pass. It tastes like home." She says sighing contently. "Thank you. It's a family recipe." Zane says walking away.

When he got to his station, Buhara announced he was full. Those who didn't pass complained. Things were getting tense was the Chairman, Netero, literally dropped in off an airship. Those that didn't pass got a second chance, all they had to do is get a Spider Eagle egg. Not an ease task, but most of them passed.

On board the airship

On route to the third phase

Zane was walking through the halls when he witnessed #99, a white-haired kid, kill two people. "Well. You seem to be in a bad mood, Killua." Zane said calmly. "Oh, it's you. It's been years." Killua said. "You know how it is. Hunt down the artifact, judge if it's dangerous then deal with it accordingly." Zane says from memory. "How's Alluka doing? Still doing her thing?" Killua nodded. "She misses you, Nanika does too."

"Makes sense. Maybe I should come by for a visit. Is Zeno and Silva still alive? I know that Silva is more than likely alive, but you never can tell with the assassination business." Zane asked. Killua looked almost offended "Like they'd let anyone kill them. Grandfather is interested in arranging a meeting with you."

"I'll contact him after the exams are over." Zane says. "Anything interesting happened to you lately?" Killua asked as they walked down the hall. "Took a page out of your family's book and ripped someone's heart out. There was a lot of blood, but the heart was perfectly intact." Zane said. "Not bad for a beginner." Killua comments. Behind them, #301 Gittarackur was watching them from the shadows as his pin covered head rattled.

Later

Trick Tower

Zane leaned against the wall as his teammates. He ended up in a team challenge route down the Trick Tower. It was called 'Decision by Majority'. It started out with choosing to open a door or not, then left or right. Luckily Zane know this group, it consisted of Gon, Leorio, Kurapika, and Killua.

The next challenge was to face prisoners in combat of their choice. A man with a scared scalp stepped up first. His name was Bendot, sentenced to 199 years for robbery and murder. "I'll go first." Zane said walking across the telescoping bridge to the 'arena'.

Bendot stood before him with crossed arms. "The combat will be to the death, is that alright with you?" He said confident. Zane asked "Would you feel slighted if I remove my armor? It seems unfair for you?" Bendot laughed. "Do what you want." Zane dismissed his armor completely and threw armor piece to Gon. "Keep it safe" Zane ordered as they tried to figure out how he did that. He was wearing just a tank top and jeans.

"You are brave man. I hope you chose wisely." Bendot yelled as he charged Zane. Zane met him half way and an intense CQC (close quarters combat) fight began.

On the sidelines both sides watched interested. "How strong is he?" Leorio said gapping at the craters from the punches and kicks. "He's enjoying himself." Gon says pointing out the matching grins on the combatants. "He's a monster when he needs to be." KIllua said tracking every move of the fight.

Zane's shirt got torn, revealing a thin scar on his abdomen and a matching scar on his back just left of his spine. "With the scars where they are, he'd have to been impaled. Even with onsite treatment he'd be dead!" Leorio said pulling at his hair. Kurapika agreed with that assessment but there was something that told him he was missing a piece of the puzzle. He couldn't explain how the armor worked but he was sure it was connected.

"It's over." Kurapika said noticing Bendot's slowing attacks. He was favoring his left side and blood dripped from his mouth. Zane delivered a punishing strike to the right shoulder and they heard the bones shatter loudly.

"You fought well. How do you want your funeral?" Zane asked as Bendot struggled to breath, coughing up blood. Bendot grinned proudly. "Give me a sendoff to remember." He said as his heart gave out. Zane closed his unseeing eyes. "I know your watching! May I fulfill his last request?" Zane asked the examiner of this phase.

In the control room, Lippo adjusted his glasses. This was an interesting development. He activated the intercom. "Go ahead. You may cremate him if you have the means to do so." This would tell him more about Applicant #1's abilities. His eyes shined as Zane created flames that burned the body to ashes. Zane was muttering a prayer.

"Very interesting. The Chairman will want to hear about this."

An hour later

Trick tower

Zane stood before two doors. "I say we do the long way. We've got sixty hours and it takes forty-five hours. You guys agree?" Gon nodded. "Hang on! You still didn't answer my question! How does your armor work? How did you make that fire? How are you alive?" Leorio demanded getting in Zane's face. Zane had reactivated his armor after the fight and refused to answer their questions. Only Leorio was still hounding him for answers.

"Later now choose a door." Zane said. They voted and took the long path.

45 hours later

Zane's group had finally got to the bottom of the tower. "I'm glad that's over. I couldn't have run much longer." Leorio said sitting down drained of energy. "Who puts a flaming boulder in a downward hallway?" He complained. "It wasn't that bad. I seen better death traps in my travels." Zane says offhand. "How the hell are you so calm? You shrugged off all the traps like they were child's play. Just to reiterate, we faced murderers, a room of switches that required five people to pull five switches simultaneously, and a downhill maze with flaming boulders chasing us. And that was the tip of the iceberg!" Leorio said completely fed up with Zane.

"I suppose I can fill you in on the broad strokes." Zane said. "You could call me a 'treasure reclaimer' among other things. The boss lady points out a treasure and a get it back. Normally I wouldn't be doing the exam, but I need to get in a restricted place." Kurapika got what he was alluding to "You need a Hunter's license to get in. Why did you wait eight years to try again?"

"Things…happened." Zane said vaguely as he could. "The armor and fire are some of the abilities I've got up my sleeve. If you pass the exam, you should look into it."

A week later

Site of the final phase

Zane was watching the tournament battles progress. Spending days on an island with the goal of hunting for a specific badge was a breeze. His target was #301, the pinhead who set off alarm bells that put Zane on edge. Speak of the devil, that was who Zane was fighting next.

He strolled in to the ring. "You aren't angry about the badge, are you?" Zane asked amused. The pinhead said nothing and started to remove the pins. His face wrapped and changed into a face Zane knew. "Illumi, I should have known it was you! You here because you can't complete a job? Or are you here for little old me?" Zane said chuckling and catching the needles that were thrown at him. Illumi Zoldyck was Killua's brother.

"You are a danger to the family." Illumi said flatly. "Of course, I am. It's my job to insure things don't fall in the wrong hands. So, I stormed your home, survived your grandfather and father, then escaped alive. What's the big deal? No one was hurt too badly." Zane had fifty needles at his feet. Illumi's unchanging face was starting to show his displeasure.

"I surrender." He says flatly. "Pleasure doing business with you." Zane mocks pocketing the needles. Zane walks over to Killua and pokes him in the forehead "You'll thank me later." Zane says.

A few days later

Chairman's office

Netero sat looking at Zane, who had deactivated his armor on the chairman's request. "You are an odd one. You antagonize a member of the Zoldyck family, handicap yourself so a convict can die a warrior's death, and finally you asked to spar with me at full power. You have my attention." Netero says stroking his beard with a gleam in his eyes.

"You lost in said spar quite quickly. But you took five blows and fought on. Not many can claim that. The question is why?" Netero said with a hint of steel. "I needed to know where I stand. There are unspeakable horrors out there just waiting for the chance to devour all life." Zane said, "And you can't tell me about the details." Netero states. "I expected that. I'll call you when I need to cash in the favor you owe me."

Zane stood up and nodding as he left.

Six months later

"What do you mean I'm promoted to a triple-star Hunter?" Zane asked confused. He had just got back from the Dark Continent, when he was given a package. It had his new triple-star hunter license in it. He called Netero at three in the morning for answers. "You don't think we missed the hunter you mentored six years ago? You've been making waves and the chairmen feel the need to keep tabs on you. They pulled a few strings and based on your achievements, awarded you this position. You fit all the required points." Netreo explained.

"What about having a job in the Hunter Association? Last I checked, I don't have one." Zane points out. Netreo chuckles. "You are the head of the History Protection Division. Missions that are protecting and/or finding artifacts of any kind is basically what they expect of you."

"They just made that up so they can give me a job." Zane said annoyed "You're half right. It was an idea that was thrown around at the meetings. No one wanted to deal with paperwork to set it up without someone to take the helm as the Head of the division. Then you show up and it was the golden opportunity. Have fun." Netreo hung up with a click then diel tone. Zane puts his phone away, grumbling about meddlesome governments.

"spending four months on Dark Continent and they 'reward' me with a means to keep a closer eye on me. Maybe with underlings helping me, I have more free time for family." Zane mused. The phone rings again. "Hello?" Zane said as he answered the call. "You're Zane Laskaris, right? I've contacted some people interested in working in your division." A male voice, that reminded him of Gon, said on the other end. "What kind of people?" Zane asked. "Ruins hunters, Paleograph hunters, Stone hunters, Treasure hunters, Jackpot hunters, Music hunters, and Sea hunters to name a few."

Zane was floored. "How long did this take to put together? And who are you?" Zane questioned. "Two months. Call me Ging. I hear that trouble is brewing in NGL." Click. Zane breathed in. "That had to be Gon's father. A great Hunter but bad at interacting with humans."

Zane found a shady place and booted up his laptop. Entering the URL for the Hunter's Tavern and his license code, he accessed the hunter's website. "Let's see, NGL, an isolated nation where no tech is allowed, and drugs are rumored to be manufactured." Zane rubbed his chin noting the stubble he had. "I need a shave." Zane mused.

A week later

Doli City, Republic of Rokario

Zane was walking through the city when he heard some guy with a pompadour yelling for someone to come and face him. "Sir. Are you aware that you are disturbing the peace?" Zane asked loud enough to be heard. The man stopped his yelling and said "I know you. You're the rising star that Morel was interested in." Zane shushes him. "I'm trying to blend in right now. If I wanted to be known I would be walking around in my armor. Please give me your name and why you are yelling." Zane said softly.

"I'm Knuckle Bine. I'm here to challenge and defeat the person holding the other half of this." He holds up half a shogi piece. "Right. I don't think yelling will get them to fight you. Besides the police over there look ready to arrest you." Zane nods to the left. Knuckle notices the cops.

"Thanks, but I got it covered." Knuckle says and goes back to yelling. Zane shakes his head and walks away. Hunters are crazy, himself included.

Later that day.

"hello Gon, KIllua. I was in the area so, I thought I'd see how you're doing." Zane said not fazed by the aura of doom Palm was expelling as she glared at him. He was calmly looking at the profiles of the hunters that Ging sent him. "What do you know about Chimera Ants?" Gon asks with a hard edge to his voice. Zane looked at them sharply, "You aren't asking about the garden variety, are you?"

"Have you ever heard of ones that are human sized? Roughly two meters in height." KIllua says making Zane set the paperwork down. "There is only one place that kind of ants come from and it's above your paygrade. Start explaining what exactly is going on in the NGL."

They explained what they knew and left nothing out. "Gon I have good news and bad news. Bad news is that Kite is dead." Zane said then stopped them from saying anything as he continued. "The good news is that he will very likely retain his memories and personality when he reincarnates as an ant. Sounds weird but I've seen similar cases."

Gon looked crestfallen but hopeful. KIllua was skeptical "How does it work?" The question was hard to explain but Zane tried his best to answer. "Basically, the ants take the best parts on the prey they eat, including skills and memories. If the preys Will is strong enough, they can break free of the queen's control. It's up to Kite to survive and break free without being discovered. Focus on getting strong enough to prevent the ants from killing off humanity."

"Well said, boss." A woman's voice said. "Bisky?" Gon and Killua said. Zane searched the profiles and found the one he was looking for. "Biscuit Krueger. Prefers to be call 'Bisky'. A double star Stone hunter. Your skills are noted and useful to my division." Zane says. "What do you mean 'boss'?" Killua asked on edge. "Your looking at the newest triple star hunter. He's young but he's got the right stuff for the job." Bisky says.

The creepy lady, Palm stopped glaring and asked, "What kind of hunter are you?" Zane shrugged "History hunter. I made it my life mission to keep things that happened from 'disappearing'" Zane did air quotes as he said this. "This also includes hunting down artifacts. Yes, you can keep some of the gems you find if they are not dangerous or important." Zane answers Bisky's question before she even said it.

Gon beamed. "With you Kite will be saved for sure!" With that they throw themselves into training whole heartedly.

Six weeks later

NGL

Chimera Ant Nest

Zane walked up to the dying queen. His gaze was not of pity or hate. It was just sadness. "We meet again your majesty." The Queen ant stared at him in shock. One of the squadron leaders, Octopus, was shocked at this, but was even more shocked when Zane understood the queen who didn't speak human tongue. "You are the flaming one who aided me in battle that day. You are odd." She said

"You have no desire to live." Zane stated knowing she had made up her mind. "Is Meruem, my son, strong?" She asks clinging to life. "your son is making his mark on history." Zane says as she dies relieved. Zane sensed something still living. He extracted a tiny baby ant. She clung to life with a will of steel. Colt another of the squadron leaders rushed over and wept tears of sadness and joy for the queen was dead yet there was a chance to protect his sister again even if it wasn't the same person.

"What's the call, Zane?" Morel asks shouldering his oversized pipe. "the ants here don't need to die. I don't know about the splinter groups or the king's group, but they have a chance to live peacefully. I'm willing to stake my life on it." Zane says making the ant look at him shocked.

"Colt I'm trusting you to care for her." Zane says as he walks away. "I have a wannabe queen to hunt down." The hunters watch him unsure of what to do. "Let him go." Netreo said "Removing the hostile splinter groups is paramount."

A week later

Meteor city

Zane was in the entry hall of the webbed-up castle when he was stopped by a group of people. "Hey you! What are you doing?" The man that spoke was a tall guy with blonde hair, Phinks. "Hello spiders. I am here to get rid of a pest that has outlive her welcome. You're welcome to help." Zane looks at the youngest member of the group. "Well if it it's mommy boy Kalluto. I see that you're still mad at me for what I did three years ago." Zane says grinning at Kalluto Zoldyck's restrained angry response.

"It's interesting to see you again." The ten-year-old killer said with gritted teeth. "It was nice chatting with you, but It looks like we've got a welcoming committee." Humans turned into monsters by the wannabe queen ant came from the shadows.

"You guys sit back and let Margret show her stuff." Zane says referring to his guitar. He starts out the massacre with a few flame geysers followed by a dozen burning rollers. The enemies that didn't die scattered then tried attacking from behind. As one got a few feet away Zane swung Margret shattering it's face and knocking over a dozen more like bowling pins.

"Come on! Is that all you got? I thought the people of Meteor City were tougher than this?" Zane taunted. He leaned back as claws passed over him. "That's more like it. Fight to the death!"

The Phantom Troupe watched the fight with interest. "He's a show off." Feitan said in his halting speech pattern. It was slightly muffed by the collar was covered half his face. "This will make it easier to find the queen. Anyone want to bet on how long it'll take to finish this fight?" The other blonde, Shalnark, asked.

They bet on anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes. Ten minutes later, Zane did a pyrotechnic finisher as the enemies around him exploded via the flaming hands holding them in place. "That was a party. How long did it take?" Zane asked. "14 minutes and 5 seconds. Bonolenov was the closest so he gets a minute head start finding the queen." Shalnark said as the mummy looking boxer runs off into the hallway.

"Did you enjoy the show?" Zane asked. The woman with oversized glasses, Shizuku, pushed them up and said, "It was nice. Why Margret?" Zane stroked the spine of his guitar and answered, "Because she's as deadly and beautiful as my mother who had that name."

Later

Zane watched as the other members ran when Feitan dawned a red coat and was talking in a different language. The wannabe queen ant, Zazan, was speechless as the webbing and her was burned alive from the miniature sun Feitan created. Feitan laughed like a manic and commented on how it was her fault her death was so slow. He looks at Zane who held up a sign with an '8' on it. "Cool attack but I docked points for the almost friendly fire." He said.

"You are not burnt?" Feitan said. "Fire immunity. Very useful." Zane pointed out. "I see." Was all Feitan said.

A month later

The moon of Scrooge Mcdock's home world

Zane was passing by the moon on his way to visit Scrooge's manor in the gummiship he built to take Space Kid to the moon. The kid wanted to go to the moon and Zane was not going to fake one. Donald was living there with his nephews. "Father! There's something red on the moon!" Sakura said pointing out a window.

"Well little sparrow. Let's go check it out." Zane said referring to the fact she looked like an anthropomorphic sparrow in this world and he looked like a fire bird of the same style. Zane landed by the red thing and says to his daughter, stay inside. Zane approached the wreak of a spaceship with Margert in hand. On the side of the ship it said, 'Spear of Selene'.

"It took you long enough to find me!" Della Duck said chewing gum exiting the wreak. "Scrooge sent you, right?" She asked hopeful. "Kind of. He hasn't told me about you, and I gleamed bits and pieces of info from Daisy and some other people." Zane said looking away. "He can live with it! I want off this rock." A giant bug surfaced and started to break down the ship. "You can have it! You Moon Mite!" She yelled shouldering a bag of things she was keeping.

"They prefer gold." Zane pointed out as the broken ship was dragged underground. "Shall we go?" Zane asked as he got on the gummiship. Della spat the gum out and followed him. "Did you know I was chewing that same stick of oxy-chew for years and the taste never faded?" Zane looked at her and said, "That's just crazy."

Back in the cockpit, Zane started lift off procedure. "Introductions are in order. I'm Zane Laskaris and this little sparrow is Sakura, my daughter. The hooded dog is Anubis, her bodyguard. The doll is Amber. The dragon is Aria. Everyone, meet Della Duck." Zane listed as the engine started and the gummiship left the moon. "In about an hour, we should reach Duckburg. Hopefully Scrooge won't blow his top. The last time I helped without him asking he lectured me about paying attention to my surroundings before I jump in feet first."

"That sounds like him. You set off a trap?" Della asked "got stuck in one of his magic traps he was planning to use for his other vault. He didn't tell me he had anti magic traps that make you feel like a bad trip." Zane grumbled. "Oh! that one. He was testing you. He throws curveballs like that to keep your skills sharp." She said fondly.

Alarms blared as Zane prepared for combat. "Anubis, status report." Zane barked at Anubis. "Large object inbound. Detecting a giant cluster of space junk moving on its own." He brought up a screen of said object. It was a bunch of space junk moving towards them. "I'll try to move out of the projected path it's taking." Zane said changing course.

Five minutes later.

"Is it just me or is it following us?" Della asked staring at the screen. "It's not just you. It changed course the same time we did. Something is in that space junk directing it." Zane said as the thing was nearing firing range. Zane activated the weapon system as he turned to face the thing. "eta until we can fire?" He asked. "fifteen seconds, Lord Zane." Anubis replied.

As soon at it was in range Zane fired. Missiles flew and exploded on contact. From the hole that was opened in the space junk, an eye glared back at them. "It seems to be angry." Della said dryly "Maybe you shouldn't have shot it." The space junk was shifted about to optimize its defense. "so it is you. We meet again Junk Dealer. It's a creature that is mostly harmless, but it gets more dangerous more junk it accumulates." (This is a creature I made up. So, don't steal it.)

"Time to give it a trim." Zane said aiming the laser cannons. Zane takes evasive action when Junk Dealer shot at them. "It just had to find functioning weapons." Anubis took control of the weapons so Zane could focus on not getting hit.

As more space junk was destroyed, the true form of Junk Dealer was revealed. It looked like an urchin with multiple ethereal tendrils branching off the main body, gripping and shifting the debris around it. In the center of it was a moss green eye that glaring at them. "Interesting looking, isn't it? I've been dealing with that thing for a decade." Zane said as he blasted the last of the junk off Junk Dealer. It shrieked and sped away. "It acts like it's a tough guy but it's a spineless coward without its 'armor'." Zane explained as he collected the nicer pieces of junk.

"Sweet! Cid will be willing to pay a good price for these." Zane said as the computer analyzed the parts. "How do you act like it's not a problem? That thing is like a cockroach that can blow up spaceships." Della asked waving her arms to emphasize her point. "Junk Dealer has the mentality of a child trying to impress it's parents. To be far, it is my fault that it came into being." Zane said somberly.

"This I have to hear." Della said with crossed arms. "I had gone to a scientist in hopes of getting my friend a new body. Unfortunately, He couldn't help." Zane said remembering that day ten years ago.

Flashback

Ten years ago

Halloween Town

"I'm sorry young man, but the technology you need is still only on paper. Give me a few years and I may get a breakthrough." Dr. Finklestein said apologetically. Zane walked out with a blank expression but the flames licking around him betrayed the anger he felt. There were melting foot prints where he stepped leading all the way from the lab through the town square and out into the forest.

"I do hope he calms down before he starts a forest fire." Dr. Finklestein mused as Jack Skellington looked worried. "Doctor, isn't there another way to new him?" Jack asked "There is one way but that requires time travel. And you don't mess with time travel." The doctor warns.

Later at the forest of doors

Zane was punching the ground raging about things as Death appeared before him. "You lied to me!" He yelled at Death. "I did not lie. You aren't looking at the right angle. Give it time." Death said fading from view. Darkness flowed from him and vanished into the night sky. Zane fall into the tree door drained.

An hour later

Santa's workshop

Christmas Town

"I see your awake." Zane heard a kindly voice say. He opened his eyes and surveyed the room. It was homey and very Christmas theme. "Santa?" Zane asked looking at the man in the red suit. Santa was looking at a list and drinking eggnog. "Hello Zane. You gave my elves quite a fright when you rolled down the hill. Tell me what happened." Santa said. And Zane did.

"I see. I have good news for Terra. You can get his original body back if his method of colleting the thirteen darkness works like how I think it does. You said a young version of him was present at the same time as the old version, right?" Santa asked. Zane nodded confused. "He plans on bringing different instances of himself to the current time. This may include Terra's body from before it was lost to darkness."

Zane shot up. "If Terra tries to take back that body, he has a chance of reclaiming it because it's his body from not long after it was originally stolen!" Zane grinned "Thank you Death!" he shouted. Santa coughed, "There is one more thing, your negative feelings spawned a creature not too long ago. You must judge if it's got the right to live. It is your feelings manifected."

End of flashback

"…And that's why it's following me around like a lost puppy." Zane finished "So, you created a monster, who's hobby is collecting junk and following you. Why don't you just accept it?" Della said. "I'm not ready yet. Until I can deal with some loose ends it won't stop." Zane sighed. They were close to Duckburg by now. The Money Bin was visible in the distance.

"ETA two minutes" Anubis said as Zane slowed down the ship. "Hold boys, I'm coming home." Della said gazing at the photo in her hand.

A few minutes later

At McDuck Manor

"And a perfect landing." Zane said as he walked up to the door. Snow crunching under his feet. It was late December, past Christmas but before New Year's. He knocked loudly but politely. The maid, Mrs. Beakley answered the door. "Who is it?" She was shocked when she saw Della Duck and asked, "Is that you?" Della grinned "Not even a crash-landing stops Della Duck. Are my boys home?"

"They are with Scrooge on the search for some treasure. Would you like some tea?" She says smiling warmly and guiding them inside.

Mcduck Manor

Sitting room

"It's been 14 years since that day. How are you still alive?" Mrs. Beakley asks. "That horrible oxy-chew Gyro Gearloose invented, believe it or not. Chewing the same stick of black licorice gum for the whole time and the flavor never faded. I'm not sure if I'll punch him or thank him." Della said before saying "I'll do both." Chucking Mrs. Beckley said. "If you didn't it wouldn't be you. What happened to your leg?" Della shows off her metal prosthetic leg. "The crash trapped my leg, so I removed it. I'm going to make it into a rocket leg or something." Mrs. Beckley looked her in the eye and said, "No rockets in the house." "Roger that."

An hour later.

"Mrs. Beckley! We have returned!" Donald Duck said entering the room with arms full of stuff, but trips on a table leg and topples sending bags and vase into the air. Zane catches the bags with his arms and balances the vase with his foot. He puts the vase back on the table and sets bags down. "You are a klutz sometimes, court wizard." Zane says amused. Donald jumped up angerly "What's the big idea… Zane?" Zane grinned "In the feathers. Heard you retired after the war."

Donald nodded "The king said that I needed a break." Zane laughed. "You worked yourself to death. Retiring is the least you can do." Della cut in "You died? You're too solid to be ghost." She says poking him. "Della? You're alive!" Donald hugs his sister tightly. "You can thank the monster maker. Without him I'd be on the moon longer."

"Donald, I hope you didn't break anything… Della?" Scrooge says stopping abruptly. the four kids run into him. "Mom!" The triplets say shocked as Webby was speechless. "Merry Christmas" Zane says smiling.

"Boys!" Della says as they rush to each other and hug for the first time. "How did you do it?" Scrooge asked Zane. "By pure chance. It's been a crazy time since we last met, six years?" Zane said as Scrooge corrected "five years, eleven months, two weeks, and 3 days to the day." Zane looked at him then laughed, handing over some cash. "I lost the bet after all. Your memory is as sharp as ever."

Aria peered at Scrooge before hissing lightly. "He's not going to steal your hoard. He's got a sizable one already." Aria hissed one last time before going back to sleep. "You've got interesting companions. A young Mist Dragon, a spirit, a living doll, and a young sparrow that seems to look up to you." Scrooge says knowingly.

"This young sparrow is my adopted daughter Sakura. She might not look like much, but she can roar when she chooses to." Sakura blushes at his praise and hides her face by hugging him. "So, I hear you don't like the names I gave you. What's wrong with Dewford, Hubert, and Llewelyn?" Della asked her sons. Zane starts to laugh. "That's what their names are? No wonder they want to be called Dewey, Huey, and Louie." She throws her metal leg and nails him in the head.

"Those are perfectly respectable names. I bet you can't even name your weapons right." Della said annoyed. Donald guided the kids away from the argument. "It's best you stay out of this." He warns them. "My sweetheart here is Margert." Zane showed Della his guitar. "So, you got one good name. Show me another." She challenged.

Zane shows her his kopis. "This masterpiece of a sword is Callisthenes. A deadly beauty I made myself." Zane said proud of himself. "Please! I could make a better sword in my sleep." Della says dismissively. "Prove it." Zane said. He had trained under the smith god Hephaestus for a total of three years over the course of the decade. "Gladly." Della says reattaching her leg. They left the room, heading for the nearest forge.

"She hasn't changed much." Scrooge said shaking his head. "Our mom is so cool." Dewey said amazed. "You mean a risk-taker. If you don't follow protocol in the forge, you could get injured or killed" Huey corrected his brother. "Don't worry so much. If she survived this long, then she's made of tougher stuff." Louise says. "And the Crashing Star survived some crazy things too." He points out calling Zane by the nickname they gave him from the dozens of crashes as Cid trained him to fly gummiships properly.

"You know the legendary treasure hunter? He's rumored to have a hoard of priceless treasure that make scrooge's collection look like a stamp collection." Webby said showing them a whole book dedicated to Zane and 'mysteries' surrounding him. Huey grabs the book and starts reading. "Whoever wrote this book knows barely anything. Most of it is just speculation dressed up to look probable. Like right here." He indicates a passage. "It says here that he was, and I quote, 'raised by the legendary Phoenix.' The author backs up this claim by saying 'His ability to walk through a raging inferno without breaking a sweat is a sure sign he is the child of the Phoenix'. That's a load of crock." He says annoyed.

"'Raised by the Phoenix?' Nonsense. It's the other way around. Zane babysat the Phoenix for a few months after it was reborn. It's defenseless for the first three to four months after rebirth. Zane is the Lord of the Skies." Scrooge says correcting them.

"What! The phoenix is real? And what do you mean Lord of the Skies?" Huey asked looking through the Junior Woodchuck Guide book for answers. "It's quite real. It lives in very remote regions and you only find it when it wants to be found. Lord of the Skies on the other hand is a title given to a very select few. Zane is the first mortal to earn it. He's tightlipped about the details." Scrooge said confidently.

"Knowing Della, she's not likely let Zane win without a fight. Be ready for a week of challenges between the two of them." Scrooge tells Mrs. Beakley. "Right away, sir." She says smiling to herself.

The next day

Scrooge inspected the blades they had created. Della's was a simple double-edged long sword with a nice balance and cutting power. Zane one the other hand made a Flamberge, a wavy bladed sword measuring almost five feet long with a foot-long hilt. "Both these blades are very nice. They do their job and are battlefield ready. I rule this contest a tie." Scrooge says.

An hour later

"you can make a passable sword, but can you handle the inferno that is Extremely Spicy Mapo Tofu?" Zane says placing a bowl of food on the table in front of her. The Mapo Tofu was so hot in spice and heat that it looked like the inside an active volcano.

"Bring it on!" Della said and down the contents of the bowl in one go. She started to sweat and gripped the table to prevent herself from grabbing the glass of milk Zane set out for her. "You just need to last ten minutes without milk and you win this round." Zane says mockingly eating a super-sized bowl of the Extremely Spicy Mapo Tofu. "Just enough kick to it. Don't you agree?" He asks savoring each bite. Della's face turned red from both anger and the burning spiciness of the Mapo Tofu she ate.

Nine minutes later

Della passed out just short of the ten minutes mark. "I guess the spice was too much for her. How should we rule this?" Zane asks Scrooge who was wearing a gasmask. Scrooge holds up a card that says 'tie', "Fine by me." Zane says shrugging.

Six days and many challenges later

"winner takes all." Della declares. "Sure. Name your challenge." Zane answers competitively. "Show me something that is impossible." She challenged. Zane stilled "Are you sure? Because if that what you want then here you go." Zane said and set a clear sphere filled with a kaleidoscopic something on the table.

"What is it?" Della asked. "It is an impossibility. Chaos in its raw unused form. By that I mean the stuff that existed before the universe came into being." Zane explained. "How is it impossible?" She asked. "Because this Chaos, that used to be the only thing in existence, is what was used as building blocks to make the universe. As in, one moment there was just Chaos, then it changed into new things. You can't even go near the stuff if you somehow find it. It's like how anti-matter and matter don't play nice."

Della got the picture. "Dare I ask it but, how did you get it then, and is it safe?" Zane rolled the sphere around. "It's not glass keeping it contained. It's the idea of 'containment' give physical form. The Fae have a way of making things that embody ideas. Titania gave me this 'trinket', as she called it, on a whim." Zane's explanation just gave Della a headache.

"Fine you win. Anything from the Fae fits 'impossible' easily." Della conceded and marked on a chalkboard the final tally. Final score was 'Della 99' and 'Zane 100'. "This was a crazy week but a fun one." Zane said laughing. Zane pulls out a puzzle made of gold and started tinkered with it.

"What's you got there?" Della asked intrigued. "one of the five puzzle boxes I found it after I got thrown into the Realm of Darkness a second time. I give it one star, don't recommend it to a friend." Zane joked "The view is interesting but the hospitality leaves much to be desired."

The puzzle box clicks and shifts into an odd shape. Zane tried to move the parts, but it didn't move. "Just like the other four. They aren't solved yet I can't get any farther." Zane says scratching his head. "Show me the other puzzles." Della says with a gleam in her eyes. He pulls out the four puzzle boxes. There was a blue wooden one, a white metal one, a dark red one, and a blackish blue one.

"as you can see, they are 'solved' yet they aren't finished. It's been bugging me for years." Zane said frustrated. Della looks them over. "interesting. Are you aware that the red one is volcanic glass? The blackish blue one is a kind of never melt ice." Della points out.

"I wonder." Zane mutters to himself as he sets the puzzles like a compass. The blue to the east. The red to the south. The white to the west. The black to the north and the gold in the center. The boxes broke apart and reassembled as a pate sized disc. It depicted the five elemental beasts.

"would you look at that. Azure Dragon of the East representing the element of wood and Spring. The Vermilion Bird of the South representing the element of fire and Summer. The White Tiger of the West representing the element of Metal and Autumn. The Black Turtle of the North representing the element of water and Winter."

Zane points out each one of the beasts as he listed them. "You forgot one. Who's the gold dragon in the middle?" She asked. "That is the Yellow Dragon of the Center representing the element of Earth and the changing of seasons. He's the one that keeps the other beasts in check." Zane explained. As he inspected every inch of the disc. The underside of the disc depicted a monk sealing a door set in a mountain. There was almost unseen lettering in this side of the disc.

"So, a monk sealed a door. Any bets to what's past the door?" Zane asks grinning. "It's a sucker's bet. It's clearly very dangerous. Maybe some kind of spirit, object, or secret. The door has sealing tags on it. The monk looks to be from a hidden sect." She points out.

"How so?" Zane inquires. "The robes don't look like any sect I've seen and if the puzzle boxes were hidden away it's not a normal monk sect." she reasons. "Good eye. I put this project on the back burner for now." Zane says putting the disc away.

A few days later

Duckburg Billionaires Club HQ

"So, you're the newest member of the club. How do you make your riches?" Flintheart Glomgold, Scrooge's rival, said condescendingly. "I sell quality ice cream for an affordable price." Zane answered not even phased. "Ice cream! How did you get so rich selling ice cream? You're yanking my chain! No one yanks Glomgold's chain!" Glomgold yelled angrily. "Oh, stuff it, Glomgold. Zane started from the bottom and worked his way up. In fact, if he's richer than both of us combined. He's the richest Greek in Duckburg." Scrooge says amused.

Glomgold's face was volcanic red with rage. "All I care about is being better than you, Scrooge McDuck! That twat could a Greek god and he wouldn't matter to my plans!" He bellowed. "That's fine. Getting rich was an unintended result." Zane said with a shrug. "When's the next event?" "no idea. They will let us know when it comes closer." Was the answer he got.

"Scrooge have a look that this." Zane show them the disc. "Where did you find that?" Glomgold said shocked "A dangerous place. What do you know about it?" Zane pressed. "That is the Mystic Beast Map." As Glomgold said the name the disc projected a map. The doted line zoomed across the projected representation of the cosmos. "Do you know what's at the end of the trail?" Zane asked hopefully. "Something so old that history has forgotten it. Mark my words and mark them well. Don't let the spirits trick you. They tempted me to hunt for it, but Glomgold doesn't fall for cheap tricks like that. I'll send you the scroll later." Glomgold said shivering.

Zane deactivated the map and put it away. "I will keep Sakura safe for you. This is a mission too dangerous for a child." Scrooge said, "Thank you Scrooge." Zane said wholeheartedly.

That evening

"Be good while I'm away. I've got something that needs to be dealt with before the worst happens. I will return, my little sparrow." Zane says kissing Sakura's head and stepped on the gummiship named 'Endbringer'. A gummiship built for one thing, War. It had the best armor weapons and speed parts he could find. For him to bring it out met that he was taking no chances.

As Zane takes off, Scrooge guided Sakura back inside. "He'll survive, as sure as the sun will rise."

On another world

Wu Earth (Based on Xiaolin Showdown)

Xiaolin temple

Later in the night

Dojo the dragon felt a chill he dreaded. He shot past the monks, completely terrified. He spotted Master Fung, the head monk of the temple. Dojo gripped the front of his robes and yelled "We're doomed!" The four dragon warriors come to see what the commotion was. Omi, the short bald dragon of water, was calm. "Dojo, what troubles you?" His voice hinted at his excitement at the chance of finding another Shen Gong Wu. Kimiko, the Japanese girl who was the dragon of fire, was texting on her phone.

Clay, the Texan dragon of earth, pushed up his hat and said, "You look jumpier than a cat trapped in a dog pound." Raimundo, the Brazilian dragon of the wind, chuckled at that. "Sounds right. So, what Wu activated?" Master Fung brought the Ancient Scroll of the Shen Gong Wu out and dojo franticly opened it.

"This is most distressing news. The Mystic Beast Map has been found. It is a Shen Gong Wu that will lead you to a hidden vault. That vault must never be opened." Master Fung explained gravely. "What's the big deal about it being found then?" Raimundo asked not getting it. "It was broken into five parts and left in the deepest depths of the Realm of Darkness. You don't just walk into that place like it's a stroll in the park! Even Dashi would be killed finding them. Now someone collected them and assembled it! We must find the key before they do!" Dojo ranted shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Calm down little buddy." Clay said then asking, "What is the Realm of Darkness and what is in the vault?" Dojo rushed to a wall panel and entered an extremely complex code. The panel opened, letting Dojo reach in and pull out a sealed scroll. Dojo broken the seal and unraveled it. He took out reading glasses and searched for the important parts. "here we are. 'In event that the Mystic Beast Map is found, don't panic. If the black scroll and key haven't fallen into the hands of that person, the vault is unopenable.' Black scroll?" Dojo searched the Wu scroll again. "'The Spirit Scroll allows one to contain that which can not be caged.' Makes sense but what about the key?"

As Dojo franticly searched for any information about the key, Kimiko noticed that the back of the scroll had glowing writing where the moonlight hit it. "Dojo. Hold it up in the moonlight." He does so and Kimiko reads it. "'The answer lies in in the shadow of the reflection. When the darkness is turned to light the path to victory will open.' It's rather cryptic but it's a lead." She said. Just outside the window a crow watches them intently.

later

Elsewhere on the same world

Chase Young listened to the crow, who turned into a jungle cat, told him of what it heard. Wuya, the reborn Heyin witch, was white as her ghost form. "That vault must not open! Dashi and I worked together just that once to seal that 'thing' away!" She said terrified. "And what pray tell is the 'thing'?" Chase Young asked arching a brow.

"An unspeakable ancient force. It was dormant when we sealed it away. Only a moron would try to awaken it, not even that bean would try that. It could bring about the end of everything." She explained believing every word she said. "Then where is the Spirit Scroll?" Chase Young asks. "Hidden somewhere in the depths of space. We robbed the 'thing' of its mind and left its body sealed in the vault. The key was hidden by Dashi and I hid the parts, almost died doing it." She comments.

"Yet someone found them. Clearly they are too stubborn to die that easily." Chase says intrigued.

A week later

Wu Earth

Remote island in the Arctic circle

Dojo landed and returned to his small form after the monks jumped off his back. "The Alice Gate is hidden somewhere around here. The problem is that the storm is interfering with my senses." Dojo yelled over the raging winds. "This will be like finding a stick in a pile of straw." Omi yells butchering the expression. "It's 'a needle in a hay stack', Omi." Raimundo corrects just as loud. "That makes no sense. Just use a magnet and the needle will be found easily." Oni asks not getting it. "Look over there. We've got boogies to the left." Clay points out figures walking in the distance.

They follow them and find a cave opening. "They must have gone in here." Kimiko whispers as each sound echoes into the depths. "Um, guys. Where's the exit?" Raimundo asks looking behind them. "It is right behind us?" Dojo trails off looking at a smooth icy wall that wasn't there when they entered. "Oh right! I almost forgot. Dashi left a maze trap around this Shen Gong Wu. I don't remember why he did it, strange." Dojo said scratching his chin.

The monks glare at him annoyed. "Anything else you forgot to mention?" Kimiko asked tapping her foot. "All I remember is Dashi getting my attention then nothing. Like the memory was erased or something." Dojo said defensively. "Hang on. You're saying that Grand Master Dashi erased your memory? How is that possible?" Clay drawled "You'd be surprised by the number of times he had to use that skill. No one else has figured out how to do it and it's not written down as far as I know. He might have eased that memory too." Dojo said absentmindedly.

"We must solve this maze before the figures we saw do it first!" Omi says.

later

At the center of the maze

The monks reach the center of the maze and found a room of mirrors. All of them were the same size but each looked different in varying degrees. "This complicates things." Raimundo says staring. "Indeed, it does monks." Chase young says as he inspects the mirrors. Wuya was doing the same. "Chase Young! You will not get the Alice Gate." Omi declares. "Everyone covers their ears as the echoes bounce around the cavernous room. "You will find yelling in this room a bad idea." Wuya says dryly. "You're here, Xiaolin Dorks? I'm going to get that Wu or I'm not Jack Spicer evil kid genius!" The pasty white kid villain said almost too loudly. "Oh, shut up you brat. The sooner we find the right mirror, the sooner we can get out of this place." Wuya says annoyed.

They see an armored figure reaching for an old bronze mirror. Chase Young, Omi and Jack Spicer jump and grabs the mirror at the same time. It starts to glow. "I challenge you to a Xiaolin Showdown. I wager my Sapphire Dragon vs. What Wu do you have?" Chase said. "I wager my Jetbootsu" Jack says. "And I wager my Golden Tiger Claws." Omi says. "I wager my Silk Spitter." The figure said. "The challenge will be Last Stand Survival. Last man standing wins."

"XIAOLIN SHOWDOWN!" They say as one and the area shifted. Ledges, pillars and openings appeared as the completers were standing ready for what was coming. It was a jungle of ice stone and metal; the spectators were in in a view room with walls showing what's happening at different angles.

"Gong Yi Tan Pai!" they yell, and Mirror Mimics melt out of the openings by the hundreds. Each foe was a featureless humanoid metallic of average height being holding a verity of weapons.

*Play Kingdom hearts Ost Vim and Vigor*

"This is easy." Jack says as he flies using his jetbootsu. His good mood was ruined when he gets dog piled from above then pummeled into submission by the Mirror Mimics. He was removed to the spectator room, signaling his loss.

"Great job Jack. You managed to get mobbed by a bunch of faceless goons." Wuya said mockingly. Jack just wheezed as his bruised body stopped him from commenting. "Look that the armored dude. He literally making them hit themselves." Raimundo said chuckling as Zane, they didn't know who he was yet, used the Silk Spitter to grab and smash the Mirror Mimics together, smashing them apart.

Chase Young used the Sapphire Dragon to make them fight each other while he took out any of them that got too close to him with brutal strikes. "interesting. He's hiding what he capable of." He said a Zane swung by spiderman style.

Omi was popping in and out of portals, confident he would win. Out of nowhere he got bound in silk and lost the showdown because of the weapons ready to slice him open. After he got teleported out, he bowed his head in shame. "My friends I have lost." He said. "Don't worry little buddy. You can always win next time." Clay said "Look on the bright side. The only reason you lost was because you got webbed by the armored dude. Any idea who he is?" Raimundo adds.

"He's a thief. I've got proof he broke into my house and took the Silk Spitter and some other Wu. He had funky looking mask to hide from the cameras." Jack wheezed softly. Dojo filled them in on what Wu that was. "The Mask of Rio lets the user blend in with their surroundings like a chameleon does. It's not true invisibility but it's quite handy."

"WHAT?" Wuya yelled watching Zane subdue the Sapphire Dragon with a blast of white-hot flames. The pillars and enemies melted under the onslaught of flames. "Well, that is a nice trick. Care to show me some more?" Chase said coolly. "Maybe, maybe not." Zane says mysteriously as they started attacking each other with their bodies and weapons they 'liberated' from the Mirror Mimics.

"Things are escalating a lot." Dojo says as Chase Young turns into his dragon from and Zane respond by turning into his fire bird form. The spectators were speechless. The battle turned into a savage bloody battle as scale, blood, and feather flew. The two stopped fighting as pillars came crashing down. Zane just avoided being crushed under the pillars like Chase Young was.

*End song*

In a flash of light, they found themselves back outside the cave. The storm had stopped at some point so they could see the damage the two warriors sustained. Zane looked like he was fine, but he walked away shakily. Clearly the battle took its toll on him. Chase Young was bleeding from talon and beak slashes. His armor needed to be repaired and he didn't even care about that. "Tell me your name Warrior!" He called out. "Zane." Zane yelled before he was out of sight.

Later

Xiaolin temple

"most troubling news. This 'Zane' is a wild card and a powerful one at that." Master Fung said after they explained why they didn't get Alice Gate. "I fear that we may not be skilled enough defeat Zane." Omi said unsure. "That may be true, but you can change that. Train hard and find what you need to improve." Master Fung advised.

"Guys! I have a lead on where the 'answer' is." Kimiko said typing away at her laptop. "The shadow of the reflection might mean the moon. It reflects the light of the sun." She explained. "That's nice and all but what in tarnation is the shadow of the moon?" Clay asked, "A Solar eclipse." Master Fung answers. "The Alice Gate let's the user enter a 'space that isn't a space' or as some people call it, an Imaginary Numbers space."

"you don't think Dashi hide the key in one of those spaces, do you?" Kimiko asked. "If that true then Zane just needs to use the Wu during a solar eclipse and the key is his!" Raimundo says worrying. "That would be true in most cases, but you must be at the right location to enter the right space. And the next eclipse is months away." Master Fung said.

"Didn't we lose the Lunar Locket to Jack Spicer a few weeks ago?" Clay asked. "Yeah, why do you ask?" Raimundo said. "Zane broke into Jack Spicer's house and stole Wu. What are the chances he didn't take that one?" Clay pointed out. "We need to pay Jack a visit."

The next day

Jack Spicer's house

Wu Earth

"Great just what I need, another bunch of intruders busting a hole in my house." Jack whined "Jackbots! Get back to work repairing those walls!" The monks looked at the opposite wall and saw that there was a burnt doorway cut out of it. "Was that before or after Zane broke in to your house?" Clay asked thinking. "That's the second time he's stolen Wu from me. The first time he stole a bunch of Wu I don't use much. You know, the ones with weird effects that aren't that useful." Jack says gesturing.

"Jack Spicer was the Lunar Locket among the stolen Wu?" Omi demanded. "No, it wasn't. Haven't checked what was taken this time yet. It happened a few hours ago. Give me a few minutes and I'll get back to you." Jack says and walks away.

They take a closer look at the cut wall. "That cut is cleaner than a perfect circle." Clay says whistling. "I don't think a welding torch did this." Kimiko said looked at the pile of ash. "Zane must have burnt the section of wall to ash with his mastery of fire." Omi said nodding to himself. "Bad news Xiaolin losers, the Lunar Locket and Ninja Sash is missing." Jack says annoyed. "Then it is time to take steps to prevent the worst-case scenario." Chase Young says walking with Wuya through the hole the monks made.

"Chase Young, what are you doing here?" Omi demanded as the monks readied for combat. "We're here because we don't want that 'thing' being unleashed as much as you do." Wuya spat. The monks relaxed but stayed on guard. "we will use the Fountain of Hui and Eagle Scope to figure out what really going on." Chase Young said.

"So, we use the Wu and get the full picture? Will that even help?" Jack asked, "Why not just track down Zane and stop him before he even starts his endgame?" The answer he got was patronizing. "Because brat if we do that then we don't know where to even start looking for him. He evaded all attempts to find him."

"My network will find him easy!" Jack boasted only to eat his words when it failed. "He has to be underwater or something to not be detected!" Jack yelled and slammed the controls. One of the cameras tilted upward towards the sky. "Can you enhance that?" Kimiko says pointing at a dot on screen. "Give me a moment." Jack says. They peer take the screen as he zooms in. "Is that a UFO?" Raimundo asked not believing his eyes.

"No that is a spaceship made for war. It's got enough weapons and armor to survive a nuclear warhead at least. There's a name on the side of it. 'Endbringer', that proves my point." Jack explained as the computer showed a 3d model of the ship.

"Raimundo was right! Aliens have come to eat our brains!" Omi shouted panicking as Kimiko glares at Raimundo who looked sheepish. "Why was I supposed to know this would happen?" Raimudo defended himself. "We will meet that a neutral spot tomorrow." Chase Young said calmly.

The next day

A few miles from Stonehenge

"So, what's going on?" Raimundo asks Clay, Chase Young and Wuya, who had used the two Wu. "For one that snake in the grass has been spying on us for weeks. He's got critters whispering things they see and hear to him." Clay says annoyed at that fact. "Zane Laskaris is not evil. In fact, he has the best intentions. He spied on us with pipe foxes to ensure that he could deal with a problem he feels responsible for." Chase Young explained.

"What problem would require him unleashing the 'thing' as you called it?" Raimundo asked. "The 'thing' is a Gashadokuro born of a grudge from almost thirty millennia ago." Chase Young said but Jack butted in asking "A what?" Sighing Wuya said "A skeleton creature at least the size of a small skyscraper. This one is about the height of Mt. Everest. It rattles loud enough to be heard as it nears you. You might not want to hear how it's formed."

"Tell us. It is vital to know everything about the enemy." Omi pressed. "It was born of the countless dead when the earth was destroyed. Not this earth, the earth 30,000 years ago. The negativity of the fallen souls lingered and festered. It blames anyone connected to that earth and it wishes to end all life because it can." Chase Young delivered in a no-nonsense voice.

"He hasn't told you the craziest part yet. Zane is older than the varmint. Time travel shenanigans are involved that I don't get. Bottom line is that Zane plans to slay the varmint before it breaks free. The evil bean has captured so he won't be a problem." Clay explained the best he could.

"Yes, Hanabel Roy Bean is in an unbreakable hamster ball with the Moby Morpher and any other Wu he had, taken from him. The fool was planning on teaming up with the beast." Wuya said grinning sadistically. "What about the key?" Omi asked, "Zane is the key. The key was a person born from that age. Dashi was crafty when he used that as the key. He hoped the beast would be sealed forever." Wuya said "I'd say that the seal would last a few more years at best."

"Where's the vault located then? Stonehenge?" Raimundo joked pointing behind him at place just out of site. They looked at him. "It is? I was joking." He says. The sky darkens as the moon starts to cover the sun. "This will be quite the show." A man in a black coat says as he sits on the grass. "Don't mind me. I'm just here for the show. You may call me the Master of masters." He said in a lighthearted voice.

"Just little nudge and the surprise will bloom beautifully!" The Master of masters said popping a bag of popcorn with magic. "What surprise?" Dojo asked. "Just a birthday gift I helped a little sparrow make. She doesn't even know what she gave him. One of my best works yet, if do says so myself." The Master of masters said proudly.

A screen appears above a box like device the Master of masters had set down. The inside of the vault was dark and oppressive with green orbs as the only light source. They saw Zane being smacked around by a massive skeleton with a foul aura dripping off it. In its chest cavity was a pulsing black heart, with the heartless emblem on it, spreading the aura outward. Countless voices of despair called for his death, cursing the fact he survived when they did not.

"How is that him winning?" Jack Spicer asked "He's not hurt but he can't kill the heartless. But don't worry, help is on the way." The Master of masters said knowingly. Dots of light started to appear in the vault. Voices people encouraging him to fight on rose above the din. The beast flinched and tried to drown out the new voices.

With Zane

In the Vault outside of time and space

Zane was on his last legs when the lightshow started. He saw the Alice Gate glow as the darkness of the vault turned to light and silence fell. A glowing figure of a young girl hugged Zane and said "You saved me Father. Maybe, just maybe this prayer will save you." The 'replica' keyblade Sakura gave him for his thirtieth birthday floated before him as Sakura's 'ghost' vanished into it then changed. Gone was the fake looking weapon and in its place was a completely different keyblade.

The guard was a red wing and blue wing wrapping around the handle. The shaft looked a branch with cherry blossom in full bloom along its length. The teeth looked like crystalized flames and the key chain was three feathers braided together, one red, one blue, and one brown. Zane grasped it and noted it had long reach. The weight of it indicated it was more of a smashing weapon than a magic weapon. The beast recoiled at sight of it. "You luck has run out, Despair. The real battle starts here." Zane said with his new weapon ready. Leaping, he slashed at the joints of the bones and cut through the foul aura protecting it. With a thunder the bones came crashing down. Foot, knee, hip and so on. With each joint he slashed the pile of bones grew and the beast lost height.

Once the head was low enough, Zane disconnected it from the spine. The light left its eyes as the heart floated out of the bone puppet. Darkness swirled around it and its true form was revealed. A rotted corpse wearing rusted armor and a twisted jagged great sword rested in its hands. The heartless emblem was on its chest plate.

"You will not win. We will return the world to the way it should be." Its voice was a dusty wheeze. "The past is the past. You can't do a thing about it. Instead of moving on, you tried to kill everything to feed your delusions. Your time is down, let the next generation live their lives." Zane tried to reason with Despair.

The Heartless scoffed at that. "Your words are meaningless. Just die already you traitor." Zane swung the keyblade and cleaved through both sword and body. Despair faded away, glaring at Zane as it died. Zane looked at the keyblade and said. "I'll name you 'Bonded Blossom'."

A few minutes later

With the spectators

"Ok, where did that weird weapon come from and why did it work against Despair?" Raimundo asked. "It's a keyblade, works great against heartless. Where it came from? Well I've been interested in him after I was informed that Zane held the Xblade without it disappearing. Imagine my surprise when I noticed the echoes of a keyblade sleeping in his heart. It was buried under so much emotional baggage that it couldn't properly awaken yet." The Master of masters explained gesturing.

"So, I did the sensible thing and gave his a blank keyblade for when it awakened. It just needed the unshakable faith of his daughter to finish the job. I can't believe it took years for it to happen. I guess the emotional baggage was harder to deal with than expected." the Master of masters said shrugging. Out of nowhere, Zane slugged him in the face. "That was for starting the Keyblade War you moron!" Zane yelled. Zane then dusted himself off and said, "I've been waiting to do that for years."

"Was that necessary? I mean he did help you beat the varmint." Clay asked confused. "This moron had the grand idea to see into the future and tell his apprentices what he saw. And what do you think happened when they are told a war was coming? They try to stop it not realizing that they made it worse! Flashforward to the last few decades, one of his apprentices, who survived the ages by body hopping, recreated the war with a willing scapegoat who didn't know he was being used." Zane ranted.

"Oh, come on. If I didn't do what I did you wouldn't have met your wife. The wedding was wonderful, by the way." The Master of masters said hurt. "You are the most annoying keyblade master I have ever met. Your poor apprentices must have suffered greatly dealing with your antics." Zane deadpanned. "Nonsense, they flourished under my tutelage." The Master of masters said.

"Hold up. How did the light show help you win the fight? After the lightshow happened, it was like mowing the lawn." Raimundo asked "My daughter, Sakura, has a particular skill. It's called 'imaginary numbers', her faith was so absolute she hijacked the space and set new 'rules'. Makes sense?" Zane said skillfully twirling and tossing his new keyblade like a baton. "So, you're saying that your daughter has the same power as Alice Gate?" Kimiko asked with an arched brow. "No, her skill is broader than the Shen Gong Wu's. Alice Gate only lets you enter the spaces. Sakura's skill is the creation and rule setting of those kind of spaces. That includes usurping a preexisting space and changing the rules of that space. I don't know the details, but she's got strange teachers who explained it better." Zane caught his keyblade behind the back and rested on the grass.

"Noticed something interesting, are you aware that a bunch of mushrooms, gumball machines, floating pots, and giant flan creatures have named you their king?" Chase Young asked smirking. Zane put his face in his hands. "Yes, I'm aware. I gave them a safe heaven outside of the Realm of Darkness to repay the debt I owed them, and they have not left be alone sense. I needed workers for my ice cream factory, and they were willing to help. Next thing I know, they carry me to a throne and put a velvet cape, crown on me and hand me a specter to complete the set! They are a mostly passive bunch, but they don't take no for answer at times." Zane said exasperated. "That's not even covering the statue they plan to make or the similar treatment they gave to my wife and daughter."

"What was the debt you owed them?" Wuya asked interested. "While I was in the Realm of darkness, I kind of almost went insane and played music to stay sane. There are three kinds of reactions from the denizens of that place. They leave you alone, they attack you, or they enjoy it and ask for an encore." Zane listed. "One of my jam sessions had a crowd of the peaceful mushrooms but some music haters crashed the show and tried kill both of us. I beat them back but passed out afterwards. I woke up to the mushrooms tending to my wounds."

"I am most grateful for those mushrooms' kind act. Without them, the world would be doom." Omi said. Zane heard his ring tune go off and answered it. "What's up?" He said. "Honey, do you remember what next week is?" Aqua asked on the other side of the call. Zane scrambled to check his calendar. "Our 5th anniversary?" He answered carefully. "Oh, good you remembered. Be sure to get something special together for the occasion." Aqua said then ended the call.

"That was a close one. She's not one to get angry with me, but I've gotten lectured by her plenty of times." Zane said as his phone vibrated. "'Cyberattack on the factory mainframe. Did not breach firewall.'" Zane read the text he got. "ugh! If it's another attempt to steal my secret recipes I will unleash a counter attack on them. Let's see how they like someone rooting around their computers."

"Corporate espionage is a dangerous business. I find it easy to step on toes unintendedly." Jack Spicer said speaking from experience. "you better not try anything." Zane said glaring at Jack who wilted under the glare. "I hate to break up your intimidation but look up." Clay said pointing at a portal opening above them.

A brutal looking double-bladed bone battle axe dropped into Zane's waiting hand. The shaft of the axe was four feet long and looked like a spinel column with a glaring human skull on the top of it. The blades of the axe were made of the same bone-like material and the edge looked extremely sharp. Zane dropped a blade of grass on the edge. It was split perfectly and cleanly. "I guess I got my own Devil Arm. Dante will love to see this." Zane grinned and did a few test swings. Purples droplets flick off the bone white axe and the ground discolored then sizzles. "corrosive poison, interesting. 'Bite of Agony' will be a fitting for you."

"Zane, that weapon looks cool and all but why does it have an aura of death coming off of it?" Raimundo asked edging away from the weapon. "This beauty is a Devil Arm, a weapon forged from the soul of a defeated demon. The being that defeats the demon must be powerful enough to make the demon submit." Zane said.

"It's been fun, but I've got places to be." Zane says tossing a bag of Wu to the monks "I'm keeping a few of the Wu, but here's the rest of them."

A week later

Twilight Town

Le Grand Bistro

"Thank you for letting me use the kitchen. It worked out as good as I could have hoped." Zane said thanking Remy, a rat who was quite a chef. "No problem. Your cooking skills need some polish but not bad overall. Question, how do you understand me? Most of the people I've met don't understand a word I say." Remy asked intrigued. "It's a gift and at times a curse. Sometimes you don't want to hear what some critters are thinking." Zane says shuddering.

"I know, right? There are critters out there without finesse. Your daughter has something special for you." Remy says shooing Zane out of the kitchen.

Zane sat at the table across from Aqua. "You really pulled out all the stops. So, honey, what's the next course?" Aqua asked smiling lovingly at Zane who was loosening his bow tie. "I can't stand tuxedoes. At least you pull off the formal dress code better than I do." Zane compliments Aqua's simple yet elegant dress complimented her beauty perfectly. Sakura wearing an apron and chef's hat pushes a cart to the table. "Mother, Father, dessert is served." Sakura says unveiling an amateurish looking cake.

"It's a death by chocolate cake. Devil's food layer cake frosted with whipped dark chocolate cream cheese frosty and coated with chocolate shavings. I hope you like it." She says looking nervous. The cake looked like it was frosted by a shaky hand and the shavings were in uneven clumps. "I'm sure it tastes better than it looks." Aqua says cutting a slice. When she took a bite, her eyes lit up in delight. "It's wonderful. Honey, try some."

Zane tries his own slice. He does say anything for a moment the says "A little on the heavy side. It needs some freshness, maybe cherry or strawberry. Otherwise, it's easily a noteworthy dish. I rate it 4 stars." Zane critics. Sakura nodded rapidly beaming.

"So, what is the surprise you wanted to show me?" Aqua asked Zane. "Tada!" Zane shows her Bonded Blossom. Aqua laughed "you said if you got a keyblade it'd look 'cool'. Yet, what you got is beautiful." Zane hugs Sakura close "I wouldn't trade it for even the 'coolest' keyblade. Bonded Blossom is a gift from my daughter. What kind of parent would I be if I just traded it away?"

Two months later

Land of departure

"The plan is to see what happens when I use Alice Gate at the same time Sakura uses her magic with a specific location in mind. You guys are here in case things go badly, again." Zane explained to Terra and Aqua. "We're ready when you are." Terra says holding the chains tried to Zane and Sakura's waists.

"3,2, 1 Alice Gate!" Zane says as the test begins. Sakura's magic resonates with the magic of the Shen Gong Wu, creating a tesseract (a shortcut portal across time and space). "it worked, I think." Zane uses equipment to analyze it. "this should lead to the lotion I was thinking of." The tesseract started to spark the exploded in a flash of light. When they could see again, Zane, Aqua, and Sakura were gone. Terra checked the chains and found them undamaged. "The end of the chain is fine. It's like it was never wrapped around them." Terra said unsure of how it happened. "I'm sure their still alive."

The screen on the equipment crackled to life. "Troubling news. Young Zane's experiment landed them in a place that unreachable by normal means. I have the feeling that they were 'invited'." Terra sighed in relief. "That would explain why I'm still here. I'm not on the guest list. You'd think they'd send invitations in the mail instead of teleporting them straight to the event without warning." Terra points out crossing his arms. "The phoenix does not invite you for trivial reasons. Zane has a history with it, so they are in good hands." Ansem reassures him.

Elsewhere

Sky Haven

Zane, Aqua, and Sakura landed in a tanged heap of wings and tail feathers. "Zane, I hope you have an explanation why we are in our bird forms." Aqua said as they untangled and fixed any out of place feathers. "Oh. We're in Sky Haven, home of the legendary Phoenix. It's also a place where birds of all kinds can enjoy yearly festivals, if they are invited that is. We are currently on the outermost area. The palace is in the heart of this place." Zane explained making a sweeping gesture to the network of trees before them. Birds of all kinds were rushing about.

A burrowing owl hopped up to them. The tiny owl greeted them and bowed "Greetings Lord Zane, Lady Aqua. who's this little sparrow?" The owl tilled his head. "This is my daughter, Sakura. May I ask your name?" Zane said startling the owl. "Where my manners? I am Rock Feather, the newest member of her Majesty's spy unit." He does a wing salute. "Lady Sakura will be welcomed with open wings." Rock Feather said as Sakura peered around them. "Your Presence is requested by her Majesty post haste. Please fly swiftly to the palace." Rock Feather says then returns to his post.

"We can't keep her waiting." Zane says as the take off. As they fly to the palace, they hear the birds pausing and start whispering to each other about them. Sakura could feel them judging her. "Don't worry about their words. They will gossip about anything." Zane said then continued to explain about the places they passed.

Ten minutes later

They landed near the palace. It was an ancient tree that was hollowed out and decorated with the history of the birds on its bark. There were openings of varying sizes at different heights. A pair of guards were at each one. A pair of Gryphons armed to the teeth block their path. "Halt!" Guard #1 said towering over them. "State your name and reason for visit!" Guard #2 said. "Hello Bob and Bob." Zane said grinning. The Guards' cold façade broke as they groaned. "Damn it, Lord Zane. Just because we're not allowed to tell you our names, doesn't mean you can call all the royal guards 'Bob'!" Guard #1 said.

"Even her Majesty started to do it. We blame you for starting it." Guard #2 whined "Deal with it. Her Majesty finds it amusing, right Sakura?" Zane nudged Sakura who was giggling softly. Even Aqua was smiling behind her wing. "Just go in. She's expecting you." Guard #2 says letting them enter the palace.

In the throne room

It wasn't that fancy of a room. The light source was glowing crystals set in the wall. The 'throne' was woven nest of sticks, thread, cinnamon and other materials. A well-loved teddy bear sat in the nest. There were a few banners with the symbol of the phoenix on it.

The Phoenix was asleep on her 'throne'. She looked like Zane, but her beauty was more. It was like she was what a god first imagined a fire bird would look like with Zane being the scaled down version. "Aurora, you're napping on the job again?" Zane asked amusing as the Phoenix woke up, stretching. In a voice smoother than even the finest silk, she said "Hello Zane. I just had to meet your family." She settles into a comfortable position. "You still kept the teddy bear I gave seven years ago?" Zane asked softly. "Of course, I did. You were the first to give me something meaningful during the 'babysitting' period. Everyone gives me books, jewels, and things like that." Aurora, the Phoenix, said. "Dear, come closer." She beckons Sakura over.

Aurora looked to be six feet tall and Sakura was in awe. Aurora looked her over. "Your light shines brightly. Would you like to know a secret?" Sakura nods as Aurora leans in close, whispering "Zane gave me his old teddy bear. He got it when he was born." Sakura looked at the teddy bear noticed how stitched and patched it was. To think that this bear lasted for so long.

"Oh, come on! I told you not to tell anyone!" Zane squawked "Good thing that was that only secret I told you." He turned up his beak at her as they giggle at how childish he was being. "I do have a job for you, Zane." Aurora says dropping a scroll at his feet. Zane skillfully opens the scroll and reads the image-based language of the Cat Kingdom. "'Queen Aurora, the eternal avian ruler of the bird kingdom, is cordially invited to meet the Cat King and his son Prince Lune to negotiate a peace treaty between the animal kingdoms. If you cannot attend give send a response stating so or send a trusted representative in your stead. Best wishes, The Cat King'" Zane reads out loud then rolls it back up. "I get that you can't go to the meeting because of the constant problems you deal with here. But why did you pick me?"

"You are perfect for the job. You can deal with politics enough to make things at least somewhat even for both parties. You know what I'd want out of the treaty. You are charismatic enough to look the part. And finally, you won't let any of his nonsense fly for even a second." She listed confidently. "Fine. I'll go meet the king. When is the peace meeting?" Zane sighed resigned. "In two weeks! I've got all the notes you need right here." She chirps dropping a large thick scroll in front of him. "Before you go to the Cat Kingdom could you swing by the Cat Bureau? The directions to get there are in the green scroll and the red scroll attached to the package is to be delivered to Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. You'll know him when you see him." She sets a thin green scroll and a long package wrapped in packing paper with a red scroll sealed with her mark tied to it.

"Honey, you can stay here and explore the bird kingdom and I will be back as soon as I can." Zane says hugging his wife and daughter. He puts the scrolls and package away, then flies off. "Time for the greatest challenge of my life!" Zane shouted as he despaired from sight.

A few days later

Somewhere in Japan

Animal Kingdom Earth

Zane was perched on someone's house reading the green scroll. "Let's see, I went to the right city. The next step is 'find the lazy cow at the crossroads and peck him until he takes you to the Bureau.' What kind of directions are these?" Zane said bewildered. "Did you say you were looking for the Cat Bureau?" a voice said as the window below him was opened. Zane squawked in alarm as the scroll fell into the waiting hand of the human young adult who leaned out her window to look at him.

She looked to be in her late teens and, based on the state of her bedhead brown hair and plaid pjs, she just woke up. "That depends on if you are in the know. I can't blab this information to just anyone." Zane said vaguely. "My name is Haru Yoshioka. I think I know who the 'lazy cow' is. Muta is a rather large white cat who led me to the Cat Bureau about a week ago." Haru said extending an arm that Zane perched on.

As she brought him into her room, he noticed how messy it was. "You should really clean this mess up before you get lost in it." Zane pointed out as he perched on the back of the swivel chair. "It's a work in progress. I must admit you look quite majestic." She commented. "why are you looking for the Cat Bureau?" She was looked at him expecting an answer. "I don't trust you yet, but I have a package for a 'Baron Humbert von Gikkingen'. What a mouthful of a name." Zane said muttering the last bit.

Haru's eyes lit up. "I'll take you there later. It's a little past seven in the morning and I must eat breakfast. Care to join me?" She offered. Zane left her room and waited for her to get dressed. He perched on her arm as she walked to the kitchen downstairs.

Her mother was in the kitchen and almost dropped the frying pan she was using. "Haru! Where did you find that bird?" She yelled startled. "Don't worry he means no harm. He was on the roof looking lost, so I offered to help him." Haru answered bringing Zane to the kitchen table. "Thank you Haru." He thanks her then turns to the mother and asks with a bow "May I know the name of the poor mother that had to deal with the dreaded teenage years?" He asks jesting lightly. "She wasn't that bad. My name is Naoko Yoshioka." Naoko says laughing and adjusts her glasses. "A lovely name. I am Lord Zane Laskaris, Bird of the Hearth, Lord of the Skies, and other titles that I really like using." Zane introduces himself.

Naoko thinks for moment. "That sounds Greek. You aren't a normal bird, are you?" Zane looks at her "What gave it way? Was it my majestic feathers or maybe my educated vocabulary?" She laughed. "you are by far the smartest bird I've even met, and you don't look like any known breed that can talk. So logically speaking, you are magical or some unknown breed of bird." She says amused. "You got me. I am a magical bird who serves Lady Hestia, my goddess. She makes the best home cooking." Zane sighs contently.

Late afternoon

The Crossroads

"Haru! Where did you find that beautiful bird?" Haru's friend, Hiromi, said running up to her. "Hey Hiromi. I'm just watching him for the day." Haru says as Zane sat in a bird cage she carried. "Cool. I'll see you tomorrow." Hiromi waves walking past her to her own destination. "Are we there yet? I can't stand this cage much longer." Zane ground out.

Soon as we get to the Cat Bureau you can get out. We need to a low profile." She whispers. They approach a café with outdoor seating. She pokes a heavy-set white cat sleeping on one of the chairs. "Muta, wake up. I need you to take us to Baron." She says prompting the cat to look at her. He got up grumbling that she follows him.

Later

The Cat Bureau

"we're here." She says letting Zane out of the cage. "Finally! I can't stand being caged." The fat cat scoffs "Too bad you aren't cat. We don't get put in cages to keep a low profile." The fat cat stood up on two legs and sat in a chair reading the newspaper "What bring you here this time? Saved another royalty and given an unwanted reward again?" The sun started to set as the light seem to focus on one of the small houses with a cat figurine standing in the window. "Cut it out!" Muta said covering his face.

The last light of the sun faded as night fell. The lights in the house turned on and the door opened. "Welcome again, Miss Haru, to the Cat Bureau. How may we help you?" the cat figurine said in a fond and polite voice. "Hello Baron. Zane here has a package for you." Haru said smiling brightly. Zane brought out the package and stood it up. It was a little taller than Baron. Zane cleared his throat then in a formal tune said, "Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, Queen Aurora has charged me to deliver this to you as swiftly as possible." Baron opens the scroll and reads it. His eyes widen then removes the packing paper.

Toto the living crow statue flies down next to Zane. "Long time no see; last time I saw you was when you babysat Queen Aurora, six years ago I think." Toto says. "I've been very busy since then. You wouldn't believe some of things I did." By now Baron had opened the package, inside lay a white cat figurine in a red dress. She stepped out of the box smiling "Hello Baron." She takes the hand he offers, and they walk into the house to talk.

"Who's the new face?" Muta asked "I believe that's Luisa, the Baroness. She and the Baron are a part of a set. Separated by war and finally reunited after decades." Haru said smiling sadly. "So, she's an old flame?" Muta asks. "Sounds about right. You ok there, kid?" Zane asks. "I'm fine." She said. "You had a little crush on him, didn't you?" She nods. "Makes sense. He's got that mysterious vibe about him. You've got your whole life ahead of you. I know you find someone that is a better match in the long run." Zane advised.

"what makes you the life couch, you feather duster?" Muta mocks. "Tubby, this is not a bird you should mock." Toto cautioned "What is he going to do? Peck me?" Muta said sarcastically then yowls with a burning tail. "I'll do that." Zane says flatly then puts out the flames. Muta looks at his singed tail then bristled angry. "What the big idea!" Muta demanded "your fur is fine. A little black and sooty, but other than that it's fine." Zane points out. "you had it coming with all the insults you were muttering about me on the way here. Yes, I heard you." Muta harrumphed then went back to his newspaper.

"Who is Queen Aurora? And why did you need to babysit her?" Haru asked curious. "You explain it, Toto." Zane said. Toto nodded "Queen Aurora is the ruler of the Bird Kingdom." "Like the Cat king." Haru guessed. "yes, like the Cat King. Unlike that ruler, Queen Aurora has no heir for she is the eternal ruler. She is the mighty Phoenix who is born anew every 500 to 1000 years. She is somewhat vulnerable during the first six months after her rebirth. To counter this, a protector is secretly selected to keep her safe and happy during that time. Additionally, the exact date of the next rebirth is left unknown." Toto explained. "Then how did you know Zane was chosen?" Haru asked confused. "After the protector's duty is completed a grand feast in their honor is organized. It's a grand time, concluding with their name being engraved on a secret stone. That reminds me, do you still call the royal guards 'Bob'?" Zane just nodded as they shared a laugh.

"That is enlightening." Baron said then bowed "Thank you for what you did." Lusia walks besides him and curtsies "You have our gratitude. Do you have time for tea and cake?" She asks kindly. "The Cat King should be sending a guide to pick me up in about an hour, so I've got time." Zane says.

20 minutes later

In Baron's house

The house was a tiny bit cramped with everyone in it. "What does the Cat Kingdom want with you?" Muta asks with his mouth full of cake. "I have the feeling it's about what happened with Haru. The King might want to clear the air before the Peace Summit happens. I am dreading that meeting so much. Send me to fight monsters and I'll do it in heartbeat. Send me to deal with politics, well it's not my strong suit." Zane says sipping the tea.

"This is just asking for troublemakers to attack. What other leaders will be at the Summit?" Baron said. "The Dog Kingdom, the Mouse Kingdom, the Reptile Kingdom, the Forest kingdoms are sending one being to represent all of them, and I'm representing the birds and the Prize Kingdom with their Moogle allies. There's another one but I don't know which one it is." Zane listed.

"Mushroom Kingdom? I've heard of those pompom-headed merchants before, but I've never heard of the Prize Kingdom." Muta says rudely. "It's a new kingdom, only two years old at most." Zane said then changed the subject. "this tea is wonderfully blended." There was a knock on the door. Toto checks out the window saying, "There's a white mushroom creature at the door." Zane opens the door and the White Mushroom Heartless bows deeply to him and gives him a scroll. "Thank you." Zane says as the Heartless poofs away.

"'Dear King Zane, we are please to inform you that we've increased yearly sale profits by 2% with the new ice cream flavor. Sincerely, your loyal subjects. P.S: The Statues will be finished by next year.' They are lucky they are great workers." Zane groans. "King Zane? You gained a few titles from the last six years?" Toto asked amused.

"Yes, I'm the king of the Prize Kingdom. The kingdom practical runs itself without my input regarding day to day issues." Zane huffed annoyed. "Then why are you the king?" Toto asked interested. "Because they are persistent at 'rewarding' me for helping them." Zane said as there was another knock. Zane opens the door and sees a brown cat with smile that seemed to be his preferred expression. "King Zane, it is a pleasure to meet you at last." He bows then waves at Haru. "Hello again Miss. Haru. Prince Lune and Yuki send happy greetings." Haru smiled politely "Thank you Natoru. Let them know I said hello." She said ready for another kidnapping.

"King Zane, are you ready to go? We must not be late." Natoru asked as Zane finished his cake and tea. "I must be off Baron. Thank you again for your hospitality." Zane says as he leaves the house setting a box with Haru's name on it down. Cats carry Natoru and Zane away to the Cat Kingdom rather smoothly. "I wonder what he let me." Haru said looking at the small box. She finds a note and a leather-bound book. "'Dear Haru. I think this will be of use to you. Zane.'" She checks the inside cover to find a hand-written title. 'Tips and tricks to keep a pleasant house: Magic and Mundane edition By Zane Laskaris' She flipped through the book and found that all of it was hand written and there were more pages than there should be possible. "I didn't know he wrote books." She said to herself. "My room isn't that messy!" She said annoyed when she saw one of the spells entitled 'crypt cleaner. A simple spell that can clean and organize even the messiest dump off spot.'

Cat Kingdom

The Palace

"Welcome to the Cat Kingdom." the king's adviser, Natori, said bowing. "We are happy you came so swiftly. His Majesty has much to tell you." His blue fur looked frazzled and his robes looked slightly wrinkled. He adjusted his glasses. "This way. The King will explain more." Zane followed him to a hidden meeting room.

The King's fur looked like he shaved half of it off and it was just growing back. He was lazing about as his son Prince Lune looked more like a ruler than his father did. A snow-white cat sat next to Lune holding his front leg worried. This was his to be wife, Yuki. "What has your advisor so frazzled?" Zane asked. "it's just an empty threat. I've gotten plenty of them." The king says nonchalantly.

"Father. This is not a threat to your life. It is threat to kill all the rulers of the kingdoms if they try to make peace. We must take this seriously. A few days ago, this letter was found on a house just outside of the range of the surveillance. No one saw anything out of ordinary before or after the letter being found." Lune pushes a typed letter to Zane. It said just as he said. If the rulers made peace they would be killed, and their kingdoms would be destroyed. That was no trances or names on it.

"This might be a problem. On one claw, it's an empty threat, but on the other, the sender has the means and man power to follow through with it. I'll need a plan to make sure they don't get their way." Zane said texting someone. A portal opens letting a moogle float in. "Hello honored customer." The moogle says then looks the letter at every angle. "I have identified the ink and paper's origin. these are products we sell. I will track the batches they came from to narrow down who bought them." The moogle said leaving via the same portal that closed behind it.

"How did you get them to come so quickly? Those poof heads are so stringy when I order stuff from them." The Cat King asked sitting up. "It helps when you are business partners with them and give interesting requests now and then." Zane said with a shrug. "I'm sending agents to search for suspects of European nationality based the spelling of some of the words. It might be a false trail but it's a lead." Zane rapidly texts to several contacts.

"Have you dealt with something like this before?" Prince Lune asks "a couple dozen times. They have tried to get my secret recipes or my cash for themselves or because they were hired to. I run a very successful ice cream 'empire' as they call it. As my business grew so did the desire to steal my secrets." Zane explained quickly.

The Cat King nods "That's life. As you raise in power so does the number of enemies after your throat. I can tell you attempted to use your family against you, your wife or perhaps your child?" The temperature rose as he said those words. "They tried and they burned for daring to harm Sakura just like the scum who dared to used her to prolong his own life." Zane eyes blazed as he ground out the words. "When I saved her, then adopted her, I promised that I'd never let her hope fall to despair again." The temperature returned to normal as he calmed down. "Sorry about that just some bad memories." Zane apologized "My temper got the best of me there."

"It's alright. When Lune was catnapped as a kitten, I ripped the fools to bloody shreds. I'm much too old to do it nowadays but I was as deadly as a jungle cat in my prime. That reminds me, I'm thinking of retiring by next year. Prince Lune is ready to take the throne from me, just need to make the transition a clean one." The Cat King said as his bones creaked, showing his age.

"Father you were lucky that Miss. Haru didn't take too much offence to what you did a few weeks ago." Prince Lune reminded him. "So that's what Muta was talking about." Zane mused out loud. "You met Renaldo Moon?" Yuki asked hopefully "Did you run into Haru by chance?" Zane tried to remember where he heard that name before. "She says 'hello'. That's why Muta was familiar. He's got a debt with the moogles. I foot him the bill for the purchase to fix the damage his crime caused." Zane and the Cat King laugh at this.

A few days later

Cat Kingdom Castle

Surveillance room

"Rewind that a little." Zane said as they looked at the surveillance footage. "Right there." He pauses it and Natori looked confused as he pushed up his glasses. "What are we looking at?" Zane points out a distortion in the air. "That's someone invisible slinking about near the castle around the day that the King was writing the invitation to Queen Aurora. We need to go through the footage with a fine toothcomb." Zane pointed out.

An hour later

The spy had been watching for a mouth. The spying ended after the letter was found but it was long enough. "This is worse than expected. The spy has more than enough dirt on the Cat Kingdom to make the Peace Summit a lot harder. They just need to let it slip at the right time and it's ruined." Natori says defeated. Zane got a brilliant idea. "We can make this work in our favor. The Cat King is retiring, so we can use the black mail to enforce the idea that the King knows his wrong doing and is stepping down. Then his more than capable son takes the helm promising to be a better king than his father." Zane states.

Natori thinks it over. "That might work. The King will be retiring earlier than planned but it might be just what we need to solve this issue. What if they catch on?" Zane shock his head "They didn't use means of listen in on conversions remotely and they haven't come back after posting the letter. I'm going to inspect the areas where the spy was."

Three hours later

Castle Dining room

"The spy is a gecko. There's a second of wall that isn't as sun-bleached as the rest. Based on the shape and lack of footholds, it's a gecko. They can climb walls that are almost completely smooth. They were using a devise to blend in so seamlessly." Zane said as they had dinner, seasoned raw fish. "That's good to hear. Any leads on where they do the tech?" Yuki asked. "The moogles. By cross-referencing the two purchases, we've narrowed down the suspects to about 38 that lived in Europe for a long period of time." Zane said between bites.

"any of them geckos?" The Cat King asked. "None. But it doesn't mean it's a dead end. The gecko spy was likely a hired mercenary provided with the tech by the client. It's easier to hire a mercenary to do the dirty work for you." "So, we're dealing with someone with cash and a grudge against the Cat Kingdom?" Prince Lune guessed. "That right. I contacted the other kingdoms and none of them got a letter like you did. When were you going to tell me that King Asgore was coming to the Peace Summit?" Zane asked flatly.

"Must have slipped my mind. You know the Monsters?" The Cat King said without a care. "My daughter and I landed in the Underground after magical mishap. It was a strange week in the Underground." Zane said shaking his head. "How about you tell us tomorrow? It will keep our minds off the gloomy mood." The Cat King suggested.

 **Author's Note: We'll get to that tale next chapter. I lot happened in this one and it's gotten quite long. Zane getting a Keyblade was in the works from the beginning. The only reason I waited this long because a Keyblade chooses a strong heart and Zane's was weighed down too much to awaken his yet. How will the Peace Summit work out with someone looking to discredit the Cat Kingdom? Tune in next time to find out!**


	15. Comic Sonic

**Welcome to the next chapter! We'll be seeing a few unexpected trips Zane did when he was experimenting with the Alice Gate and the fate of the Peace Summit will be revealed. Spoilers for Undertale.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff; the rest is another people's stuff.**

Chapter 15: Comic Sonic

8 Years AXD

The next morning

Cat Kingdom Castle

Dining room

"That crazy week started at Ansem the Wise's lab. Even, one of Ansem's apprentices, insisted I help him with his latest Replica modal. Basically, empty bodies that mimic the appearance of the heart/soul inserted into it." Zane started outlining the events that lead to him landing in the Underground. "Humans invented such thing. Most intriguing, does it work?" Natroi asked surprised. "For the most part. It gets a little strange when it's used to create multiple instances of the same person. Anyways, what's important was that Sakura was there to see me work my magic. It didn't work at first but a few tests later and we found out that the soul that I put in the Replica was only half there." Zane narrated.

"are you yanking our chain?" The Cat King accused jabbing a fork in Zane's direction. "I kid you not. The Replica was connected to the rest of the soul and then things got crazy. Sakura, with Aria napping around her neck at the time, was touching it when it started to fade in and out of existence, taking the two along for the ride. Naturally I use the only means of following it to where it's going without knowing where I'd end up." Zane says as they chuckle at his actions.

Flashback

Six weeks ago

Underground

Ruins

Using the Silk Spitter, Zane avoided smashing into the ground just left of the patch of yellow flowers. The Replica was laying on the ground below him as he dangled from the silk line. "There's the body, but where is Sakura?" Zane mused out loud. "Maybe I can help." A sickly-sweet voice asked as a yellow flower with a face popped out of the ground. "I'm Flowy the Flower. Were you looking for someone, tin can?" The flowy's face twisted into a nightmarish vintage.

"Go eat compost, you weed!" Zane shot back as the Soul Stone and Power Stone sent an arc of energy striking the Replica and the demented flower. Flowy screamed in agony then turned to dust. Said dust was absorbed into the Replica. The Replica morphed into a monster goat child wearing black pants and a yellow and green stripped shirt, who groaned. "You OK, Kid?" Zane shouted to the monster.

"I'm me?" The goat kid said as he patted himself down. "I'm not a flower anymore!" He does a Snoopy dance causing Zane to start laughing, then falling to the ground when he lost his grip on the silk line. "Kid, that was so amusing. Question, why were you a demented flower?" Zane said as he caught his breathe.

"Well, when I died a flower bed grew. the first flower from that patch was taken by the royal scientist and she injected it with DETERMINATION bringing me back as an unfeeling flower." The kid explained. "I can hear the caps in that word. What the deal with that? And what's your name?" Zane said dusting himself off. "Howdy, I'm Asriel Dreemurr. DETERMINATION is something humans have. It lets them come back from the brink of death and other things. What's your name?" Asriel offered a furry paw like hand to shake. "Zane Laskaris. Pleased to meet you." Zane gives a firm grip and returns the handshake.

"Did you see a human girl around here? She has brown hair." Zane asked hopeful. Asriel thinks back. "I spied her going to my mom's house in the Ruins. There was a bunch of spiders following her. "following as in chasing or 'following the leader' following?" Zane asked worried. "follow the leader. She offered to help them get to Hotland. Spiders can't handle the cold weather of Snowdin very well."

"What are we waiting for?" Zane says as they rush to Toriel's home. It didn't take long to pass the puzzles and reach the house.

Toriel's Home

"Howdy mom." Asriel greets as Toriel answers the door. "Asriel?" She asked shocked then sweeps him in to a hug only a parent could give. "How are you alive? Never mind that. If you are back for good, it doesn't matter to me." She cried tears of joy, afraid to let the hug end for fear he would disappear when she did.

Zane coughed lightly. "Ma'am, did you see a human girl in her early teens at most pass through here? I'm her father and we got separated arriving here." Zane inquires. "Young Sakura was here yesterday. She insisted on getting the spiders to Hotlands as soon as possible. I gave her supplies and she left the ruins soon after." Toriel said sadly then asked sharply "Where were you? She gets separated from you and it takes a whole day to go find her?" Zane shrunk back a little. "I opened a tesseract to find her moments after she vanished. I didn't account for the timing being so weird. I'm still new at traveling through Imaginary Numbers spaces." Zane said annoyed at himself.

Her expression softened as she led them to the table. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm so worried about Frisk. She left a few days ago to reach the Barrier. Asgore will surely kill her and take her soul to free the Monsters." She explained pouring them tea and serving butterscotch cinnamon pie. "I pray they are unharmed."

"I'm going. I refuse to let this Asgore kill ether child because it's a way free Monster kind. He can just find a less bloody way to do it. Where's the exit?" Zane stood up with clenched fists. He drinks the tea and saves the pie for later. "It's in the basement." She says as Zane walks off. "Please be careful. The other monsters just want to be free of Mt. Ebott."

Later

Snowdin Forest

Zane trudged through the snow as the wind howled and the blizzard tried to push him back. "Halt!" Zane see a Dog monster, Doggo, in a sentry box with blades ready, yelling at him over the wind. "I can't hear you!" Zane yells. Doggo just growls then pulls him into his box out of the storm. "You, thing, where are you going in this weather?" He demanded. "I'm looking for my daughter." Zane said. Doggo made Zane wave his arms to get a good look at him then said "Your pup spider leader? She passed here before the storm hit. Wait here before you freeze."

Three hours later

Zane sat in that box for three hours munching on dog treats, which tasted like a hard cookie that weren't sweet and were very dry tasting, waiting for the storm to pass. Doggo asked questions about his family. He answered the questions just to pass the time. "Storm has past. Follow me to Grillby's. The shift is over." He led Zane past the posts of the other Snowdin Canine Unit. Dogamy and Dogaressa, a pair of dog monster wielding axes and in love. Lesser Dog, an armored dog wielding a sword and a shield. And finally, Greater Dog, a normal sized dog in a massive suit of armor wield a giant spear. They were an interesting bunch of dogs. They sung praises about how sweet and considerate his 'pup' and Frisk was to them.

Snowdin

Grillby's

Grillby's was a pub run by a smartly dressed fire monster named Grillby. Zane was sitting at the bar asking about Sakura. "A teen girl with spiders following her. Yes, she stopped here. The spiders sold their Cider and Doughnuts with my permission of course. They left just after the lunch rush ended. Here's your burger and fries." Grillby says giving Zane the plate of food. Zane pays for the food and gives a big tip for the information. Grillby takes it then goes back to polishing the glasses.

"I might have seen her. Do you have a recent picture?" A skeleton in a blue hoodie said as Zane moves a fry to his mouth. He sets it back on the plate and glares lightly. "you better not be lying." Zane passes a photo over to the monster. "Are you going to break my funny bone?" Sans plays a note on a trombone he got from nowhere. "The name's Sans the skeleton. I sold a couple Hot cats (hot dogs cut to look like they have cat ears) to her in Hotland. She was headed for Muffet's place." Sans lazily explains as Zane eats.

"Is there anyone that can point me in the destination of where she lives?" Zane asked "Undyne knows the general area. She's over at my house, you can't miss it." Zane takes the picture back and mutters "I'll find you soon my little sparrow."

An hour later

Snowdin

Zane was standing in front of a tall skeleton wearing costume armor and a scarf. And next to him was a fish lady with an eyepatch and grinning. "The Great Papyrus remembers the conductor of the Spider Marching band! She led the merrily singing spider through town selling food and drink. All though, the song the they chose to sing was odd." The skeleton, Papyrus said bombastically.

The fish lady, Undyne, nodded saying "I think the song was called Ai No Uta. What's it about?" Zane knew that song. "It's a song about how loyal the Pikmin are to the leader that helped them survive the harsh world they live on even if it means dying for the cause. Pikmin are a bunch of plant critters that are on the bottom of the food chain. A traveler found them and helped them band together and show the predators they weren't going to be lunch without a fight."

"FUHUHUHUHU! They are true warriors marching into battle courageously! I'll show you the way to Alphys' Lab, you're on your own after that." Undyne declared dragging Zane away by his arm.

Later that evening

Entrance to Hotland

"What was with that village we passed through?" Zane asked confused. "that was the Temmie Village. I don't understand what they are, but they are a harmless friendly bunch. I can't wait to tell Alphys about your adventures. They are just like her anime! FUHUHUHUHU!" She laughed. "I'll be happy when I see Sakura's smiling face." Zane said as they rested for the night.

The next day

Alphys' Lab

"ALPHYS! Are you home?" Undyne banged on the lab door, breaking the hinges as the door fell inward with a clang. "Oops. Well, I'll be leaving now. Good luck Zane!" She says walking away. Sighing Zane enters the lab. A nerdy lab coat wearing yellow lizard monster was sighing and muttering about the door again.

"You must be Alpys. Do you know where I can find Muffet?" Zane asked politely. Stuttering, she gives him directions. With that Zane moves onward.

Later

Muffet's Lair

"this is the place." Zane said to himself listening to the many voices singing. The dress wearing anthropomorphic spider monster was serving tea enjoying the music. As the song ended Zane applauded. "you've been quite busy, my brave sparrow." Zane said catching Sakura in a hug. "You must be the wonderful father Sakura told be so much about. I was shocked when she led all the spiders here from the ruins. She managed to collect so much money that travel will be breeze in the future. Stay have some tea and doughnuts. It's on the house." Muffet guided them to the center of the web.

Around noon

Underground

The Barrier Room

Zane had left Sakura with Muffet because he needed to stop Asgore before he made a foolish mistake. He came just in time to block King Asgore's Trident with Bonded Blossom. "This can go two ways. One, you stop the fight here and no one is harmed. Or two, we fight and some dies needlessly. Choose." Zane said flatly. Frisk stood behind Zane looking worried for both sides. A fireball knocked both fighters flying as an angry Toriel stormed in yelling "Asgore! Don't you dare harm Frisk!"

Zane pushed Asgore off him and stood up. "I'm happy to see but what are you doing here?" Zane asked. "She rushed here like a dog after a fresh steak." Undyne said as she and other monsters walked into view. With her was Sans looking as lazy as ever. Papyrus who looked like he was thinking hard. Alphys, the royal scientist, who was staring at Zane's keyblade gob smacked. Asriel walked up to his dad, King Asgore, saying, "I'm home, dad. Sorry I made you worry."

"My son? But you died." Asgore said sitting up. "I can answer that question." Zane said. "But can we do it somewhere less creepy?" They leave and head to Grillby's via one of Sans' 'shortcuts'.

Ten minutes later

Snowdin

Grillby's

They were sitting at the pub after hours for a private discussion. Grillby was willing to let them do it and took their food orders. A robot named Mettaton joined them to meet the father of the 'rising star who sung their way into the heart of the Monster race'.

"To put it simply, I was asked to help with a soul related experiment. Magical time space shenanigans happened and here we are." Zane summed things up. "Where's Aria? She wasn't with Sakura at Muffet's Lair." Frisk smiles and Aria peeks out of her shirt. "She looked lost, so I offered to help her find who she's looking for." She explained giving a gold coin to Aria. "How long ago did you find her?" Zane asked with a sinking feeling. "About four days ago. She was sitting by the river near here." Frisk says.

"so, Aria arrived a day or two before Sakura, who arrived a day before me. That makes a little sense given we arrived via Imaginary Numbers space." Zane mused. "Imaginary Numbers space? You mean you made a stable tesseract? How did you do it?" Alphys asked interested. "You need to ask Sakura about that. I just used a magical mirror to follow the path she took." Zane holds up Alice Gate. Alphys scans it and marvels at the readings she got from it.

"It doesn't matter how it happened. They have brought true hope back the kingdom, if only there was a way to break the barrier without bloodshed." Asgore says sadly. "King Asgore, there might be a way. If the legends are true, then Zane's weapon can unlock it." Alphys stutters. "You mean he has one of the legendary keyblades? Is it stylish looking?" Mettaton asks striking a pose. "I've had it for less then a month but, yes that is a keyblade. Bonded Blossom is its name." He shows them his keyblade.

"Show them your other weapons." Undyne says with a glim in her eye. Shrugging Zane shows them Margert, his guitar, which Mettaton declares to be 'almost as stylish as he is'. They were impressed by the craftsmanship of Callisthenes, his Greek Kopis. Bite of Agony, his newest weapon, creeped everyone save Undyne out. "Now this is a weapon." She said inspecting every inch of it. "This is the weapon you got for vanquishing Despair, right?"

"Yes. It was a foe that needed to be defeated for everyone's sake. Don't touch the edges. It's wickedly sharp and has damage over time effect to its strikes." Zane warns. "Yeah. Acidic poison to cut your foes down to size!" She said. Zane puts the weapons away. "Tomorrow I'll try to remove the Barrier." Zane promised.

The next day

Underground

The Barrier Room

Zane takes a breath then points Bonded Blossom at the glowing wall. Nothing happened at first. The six jarred souls glowed, then a giant fist slammed into the barrier cracking it. The souls passed on, leaving empty jars behind. Bonded Blossom glowed and with a grin, Zane slashed at the weaken wall, shattering it to dust. The crowd of Monsters watching him cheered.

Flashback end

Back to present

Cat Kingdom

Castle dining room

"After that, there was a festival that lasted two days. Food, music, dancing, games, it was crazy. Not only did the prince return from death but they were freed at last. When I called yesterday, they told me that the construction of their new town was coming along nicely. Toriel and Asgore's marriage is very brittle at best but there's a chance they might get back together for Asriel's sake." Zane finished.

"That's to be expected after what he did. I can't Imagine how insane Asriel went trapped as a flower for years." Yuki said. "Insane? That's it! Cat King was there anyone that wanted to usurp your throne in any context?" Zane asked out of nowhere. The Cat King thinks about it. "There was this ambitious kitten six years ago who proclaimed he take the throne from me. Natori do you remember his name and what happened to him?" Natori said in a grim voice. "Sootpuff was caught by humans and taken to some secret lab called 'Limit Breakers' about five years ago. He has not been seen or heard from since."

"Shame. He was a bright feline." The Cat King said. Zane calls his Pipe foxes and they surround him whispering intel to him. "Thank you. I need you to find any information on Sootpuff and this 'Limit Breakers' place." He says tossing star candy to them. After eating the star candy, they rush off. "Where did you get so many pipe foxes?" Prince Lune inquires. "There were hundreds of them." Zane chuckled. "From old pipes. I've got quite the collection of them. Those are my eye and ears for cases like this. Doesn't work all the time." Zane says. "One of the names one the list was 'El Gran Ray' aka 'the grand king' in Spanish. We might be dealing with a nutjob."

"I want to say that's crazy, but that name came up in some of the threating letters the King has received in the last year. Nothing came of it, so they were filled away to in the records just in case." Natori admitted. "I will get them later for you to examine."

Later the day

Cat Kingdom

Royal Library

"This is the same ink and paper." Zane says comparing the letters. "same spelling for the words and the wording is close enough to be the same. This proves 'EL Gran Ray' is the one that sent the letter. Not sure who 'El Gran Ray' is yet or where they are staying right now. Can't win them all." Zane says with a shrug.

"this is a letter Sootpuff set the King years ago." Natori sets the letter down. "This supports the theory I had. Sootpuff is from Europe, right?" Zane asks. "He was a Norwegian Forest cat who lived in Denmark. He was taken by the humans near Paris then shipped off with other animals to the lab somewhere in Spain. When you told me to do background check on him, I wasn't sure what you were expecting to hear. He was a normal cat with a reasonable past. Got in trouble with the guards but nothing noteworthy." Natori said reading the information he got together.

"I have a theory and so far, it's looking very likely. I just need to find out what happened at the 'Limit Breakers' Lab." Zane said. "What is this theory you have?" Natori asked "Sootpuff might be 'El Gran Ray'. He's been off the radar for years. A lot can happen in five years. Don't tell them about this yet." Zane asked the adviser. "Why not?" Natori asked confused. "Because I don't know if I even close. I could be way off." Zane answered. "It all hinges out what happened at that lab."

A few days later

Cat Kingdom

Secure meeting room

"after much research and intel gathering, I have uncovered the mastermind and what their scheme is." Zane said. "Before ask any question let me finish explaining what I found out." The Cat King, Prince Lune and his to-be wife Yuki listened on the edge of their seat while Natori, who knew some of the information was interested on learning the whole picture.

"Sootpuff was taken to the 'Limit Breakers' Labs, hidden away in the Spanish countryside, where they used various unethical methods to 'improve' animals." Zane shuddered "I refuse to tell you the details. All you need to know is that it was shut down a little over a year ago. Not long after, 'El Gran Ray' started sending threatening letters to the King. I did some digging and found farther connections between the two. Both use European spellings of words and some of the slang terms used in the letters."

He points off some examples the continues. "Judging by the files I found in the labs, Sootpuff was driven insane and his shattered psyche only remembers how he wanted your throne for himself. Hence the new name 'El Gran Ray'. When we get to the scheme part. He wants your job, so he figured that discrediting you is a surefire way to remove you and slip in as the best choice for the new ruler."

Zane sets a bunch of photos of a gecko talking to an unseen cat on the table. "These were taken a week before the gecko started spying on you. It's a bad camera angle but it's the best I could find." He sets another set of photos on the table. Those showed the same duo. The unseen cat was handing over a case and taking a metallic band from gecko. "this was taken a few days after the letter was found. Once again, the meeting place is mostly hidden from prying eyes. Sootpuff has all the intel he needs to discredit you. The Peace Summit is five days away, so we need to act fast." Zane finished speaking.

Zane's phone rings and he sees the caller id. It was 'El Gran Ray'. "Hello. Am I speaking to Sootpuff?" Zane asks There was unhinged laughter on the other end. "That's a blast from the past. I haven't been called that in years. The white coats called me 'subject #5938' or 'Project Stealth'. It warms my heart to hear that name." Zane gestured from them to let him do the talking. "I'm currently recording this call as the negotiator hired by the Cat Kingdom. Is that OK with you?"

More laughter. "Do you have a Megadeus hidden somewhere? Big O is my favorite show. This is better than expected." Sootpuff said excitedly. "My name is Zane. To begin, what are your demands?" Zane started off easy. "The dethronement of the Cat King and a better ruler in his place. Don't care who, just someone better than that kitty litter brained king. Did you know he hits his subjects with golf balls, and he doesn't even care!" Sootpuff ranted.

"He's willing to retire if that's what you want. Anything else?" Zane asked "I want to the life of a rich person pet. It must be a happy home. I'm tired of hearing rats call me insane and half blind!" Sootpuff rambled for another ten minutes about the stupid rats that insulted him day in day out. "You got all that?" Sootpuff asks. "Yes, I did. I think I know a family that would enjoy having you as a pet. The Dreemurr family fit your parameters." Zane says hoping this would work.

"Dreemurr? Where have I heard that name before?" shuffling paper is heard before Sootpuff laughs hysterically. "It's perfect! Not too many humans, they're royalty and the cool fish lady lives nearby! Sign me up!" They sigh in relief. "Sootpuff, this is the Cat King speaking. I, Regulus, (The Cat King doesn't have an official name, so I gave him one) the current Cat King promise to step down at the Peace Summit and let my son, Prince Lune, take the throne." Regulus said. "Good enough for me. Meet me where I met the gecko and take me to the Dreemurr family. Toodaloo!" Sootpuff ended the call.

"How did he even get your number?" Natori asked "Probably got it from spying on the Monsters. From what I gleamed from the lab records and the call just now. He's not completely insane, just unhinged, half blind and got scars all over his body." Zane listed. "Now that this issue is dealt with, I need to call Asgore and let him know he's getting a pet cat." Zane leaves the meeting room to make the call.

"Lune. I'm sorry that this happened so soon but you will be king sooner than you wanted." Regulus said shoulders slumped. "Father, I knew this would happen at some point. You raised me to be a kind and wise king. So, it happened a few years sooner than you planned. Nobody was harmed and things turned out reasonably well. You get to go down as the Cat King who helped bring peace to the kingdoms." Prince Lune said firmly. "I can live with that." Regulus smiled warmly.

Natori watched the scene with smile. He'd enjoy being Prince Lune's adviser when he took the throne.

Cat Kingdom

Roof of the castle

"hey, Asgore. It's me, Zane. I need a small favor." Zane said then listen to the person on the phone. "Oh! Hello Toriel. I kind of promised a cat you guys would take him in as a pet." He listens. "What's his temperament? That's the thing I need to tell you about. Sootpuff, that's his name, was a test subject and he's a little unhinged. Pamper him and let him watch anime and he'll be easy to care for. I should warn you his eye sight isn't the best." Zane listens again. "I'm sorry for springing this on you out of nowhere. I'm bring him over in two days at the latest." Zane hangs up and stares at the exit tower being fixed. It was days like this that Zane was happy to have problems being solved without bloodshed.

"I couldn't help but over hear you were talking about Sootpuff." An elderly Norwegian Forest cat said, polishing the windows below where Zane was. "He was my grandkit. It warms my heart he's still alive and going to a loving home. Would it be too much to ask for you to let me see him?" The cat had a fluffy coat made up of grays and whites. He had a blue eye and a green eye. "What's your name young cat?" Zane asked with a smirk. "Young cat? That rich. If the rumors are true, then most of the kingdoms are youngsters comparted to you. The name's Ashen Blast. Got that name for how much of a nosy kitten I was. Catch!" Ashen Blast tosses a gem the size of a shooter marble. It looked like a yellow lizard's eye.

"Well, well, well, so you were the one who stole it from it's hiding spot. The Basilisk' Eye, I was hired to track it down, but I was too late, you beat me to it years ago. The Reptile Kingdom lost this many years ago, they will love to have it back." Zane mused. "Found where the Arsene's cat left it after stealing it by accident. Now he was a master thief, some say he was even better than his human." Ashen Blast said grinning.

"I'll be more than happy to bring you along. What's Sootpuff's story?" Zane asked "Oh. We lived in a fishing village on the west cost of Denmark as street cats, not the safest life. His mother died keeping him fed. The fishermen don't take kindly to thieving cats. I raised him after that, making our way to the Cat Kingdom. It's nice here but at the time it wasn't. Nobles tried to request taxes and laws to add to their wealth. The King stopped them, but the commoners still suffered. 'random muggings' outside of the kingdom happened a lot. Lil' Sootpuff snatched a letter from the mugger that attacked us one day and got it to the King. The noble behind the attacks was dealt with swiftly." Ashen Blast recounted.

"That was when he declared he'd be king?" Zane asked knowing the answer anyways. "Yep. The King gave him a salmon for being 'cute'. Sootpuff resented that but he took the fish anyways. We parted ways soon after that. He wanted to travel alone, so I got a job here cleaning the castle." Ashen Blast sighed "if only I had gone with him."

"Look at it like this. He's alive and you can visit him when you feel you have the time. Someone from his past he knew in a good way will help him settle in. Ask the King for a week off from work if you can." Zane said. "Way ahead of you. I've got two-week paid vacation days I'm being 'forced' to use, Prince Lune's orders." Ashen Blast said in a mock hurt voice. "Like poor old me can survive a day without work." They share a laugh.

The next day

Back alley meeting spot

"Aren't you a sight for sore eyes! Grandpappy Ash, how did you get out of window washing?" Sootpuff said scrolling out of the shadows, his sooty fur had thin surgical scars marked by white fur lines. His eyes were covered by a pair of odd-looking goggles. "Hello Sooty. The future king Lune told me I've got two weeks off. What better way to spend it then with my grandkit?" Ashen Blast quipped.

"Makes perfect sense to me. Who's the human?" Sootpuff asked nodding at Zane. "The name's Zane. We talked over the phone." Zane said. Sootpuff's goggles zoom in on Zane and scan him. "Crazy magic levels you got there. Stronger than any creature I've run across, at least. The moogles really know their magitech. These babies correct my eyesight and make it even better. Let's me get a rough reading on how much magic things are radiating. You're a glowing with power like a reactor."

"Oh! You're the one that is testing the magitech trap detection goggles. I complained to them about these annoying invisible magic traps I ran into from time to time. You had to sign a lot of a paperwork to get those, right?" Zane said as they walked to a wall. Zane activated Alice Gate, opening a gate way. "This is a shortcut I found by chance. It connects to a network of check points in Imaginary Numbers Space. Think of it like a public transport system that requires particular key to use."

Transit Space to Nowhere

*Play Guardian of Light 1 - Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon*

They were standing on a platform in a void of shifting colors and floating clocks. "This is trippy. I can see the clocks and the benches; in fact, I can touch it too but, I can't smell, taste or feel any textures. There's no heat, magic, or anything detectable here." Sootpuff said shifting through the modes of his goggles.

They sat on the wooden benches that felt like they were sitting on air. After what felt about an hour passed, a sound reached their ears. The hiss of brakes and wheels rolling to a stop. A patch of the void moved to show the interior of a train car. "This is our ride." Zane said as they step on to the train.

"Welcome aboard the Nowhere Express. We take you anywhere you've been before. Limited to the world you're on. Where are you headed?" A shadow person wearing a conductor's outfit and blue eyes being the only feature that wasn't black. "The Monster Town near Mt. Ebott." Zane answered. The Conductor stared unblinking at Zane then said, "we will be departing momentarily please find your seat and enjoy the ride." The Conductor leaves the train car, headed for the front of the train.

"He talked with no mouth. Is he always this creepy?" Ashen Blast asked fur standing on end. "I know, right? This is the third time I've rode the Nowhere Express. He's a resident of the Void. Might be related to the cthulhu mythos." Zane said as the chill went down their spines. The Train started to move and as they traveled, they talked about anime. Ashen Blast was unsurprisingly a fan of Lupin III.

The train stopped briefly letting a transparent figure Zane knew on. "Hello Meruem. How did you find this interesting means of travel?" Zane greeted the Chimera Ant King. "Ah. Hello Zane. I didn't know you where visiting the world you gave us." Meruem said "I used my nen to open the door. I've known about it for a few months. You and those cats are transparent."

"That's the wonder of the Nowhere Express. Travelers on different worlds can kind of interact with each other while on the train. How's the kingdom going? Have you beaten Komugi yet?" Zane asked. Zane had helped limited the deaths with the Chimaera Ant incident, as a result the ant king, royal guard, and these that wished to follow them were given a world to call their own. Not all the ants left with him and the Chairman was a little disappointed he didn't get to fight the ant king.

"I haven't beat her yet. What have you been up to?" Meruem said Zane knew he'd keep challenging her until he won. "Politics, defeating ancient threats, and even more politics." Zane listed. "Here's hoping that the kingdom leaders aren't too much of a headache." Meruem nodded "get them into check and they will be forced to agree to your terms." He advice. The train came to a stop. "It was nice talking to you." Zane said as he and the cats got off.

*End track*

Monster Town

Around two pm

"And here we are. It's only half built right now, so most of the monsters and staying Underground until the town is finished." Zane explained standing in front of a fountain with a statue of Zane, Sakura, and Frisk. The plaque read 'dedicated to the brave humans who gave us our wish.' Their names and titles were listed.

"They got your good side. 'Sakura the Spider Leader'? Most females I've seen, run and scream yet your daughter lead hundreds of spiders for hours." Sootpuff said impressed. "So, where's the manor?" He asked looking around. "Over there." Zane points to a three-story building a block north of the fountain. Even from the distance it looked welcoming. Cream colored stone walls and windows not too big nor too small.

As they approached, they noticed that the houses were more finished looking closer they got. "Looks like that house was the first one built. I noticed that the fountain is so new there was no water yet." Ashen Blast pointed out. "It's not finished yet. There's going to be a mosaic in the bowl of the fountain and that will take time to finish. I'd say at least a few months with the focus being on building the houses for now." Zane said.

Dreemurr Family home

Asgore was tending the garden, humming to himself as he trimmed the hedges. He stopped when he heard foot steps on the road. "Hello Zane. Tori told me you were bring a cat in need of a home. Come inside, I'm almost finished on the garden." He said warmly opening the gate for them before Zane said a word.

Five minutes later

Zane sat in the living room drinking tea, explaining the why he brought Sootpuff here and how Ashen Blast would be staying in town for a couple weeks. Toriel nodded understanding his plight. Sootpuff was a purring puddle as Frisk scratched the right spots. Asriel was listening with Ashen Blast napping on his lap. Asgore was pondering what he heard then said "we will be happy to take him in. I imagine he'll make himself at home in no time. There is something that has been bugging me. Sans judged you yet he refused to say anything about it. What did he see that made him feel the need to hide what he learned?"

Zane got up and added a log to the fire. He stared at the flames with poker in hand, prodding it. "I've made a lot of choices good and bad in my life. I survived a few wars and stopped even more from happening. Sans saw all of it and knew that information is too dangerous to be shared. Yes, I have killed before and I don't regret some of them." Zane said carefully.

"I understand, the life of a warrior is not an easy one. The fact you were gave me the option to surrender shows you didn't fall to madness as many have in the past." Asgore said nodding. Zane laughed bitterly. "You know how everyone has a fatal flaw? Mine is Vengeful Wrath. A burning rage against those who willingly harm what I hold close." Zane says. "It's there in the back of my mind promising to make them suffer. It's not a bad thing, but it must be channeled properly, or it will consume the landscape. I left a scar on the Realm of Darkness that is not disappearing anytime soon."

The hearth shows an image of a black desert marred by glass spiky towers surrounding a crater of glass 50 meters across. "The Earth Core heartless thought they trapped me while a dark doppelganger of me taunted me. They wanted me to fall to despair, but they press the wrong buttons. My rage blazed so hot, they and the sand became glass. That anti-Zane was ash in the wind, too bad it was just one of many."

The image in the fire changed to show mushroom heartless. "Some are just trying to live." The shifted to show a Dark Hide, a giant beast heartless that attacks from the shadows. "Then there are those who are beasts always hunting for new pray for thrill of the hunt." The fire shifts to show a humanoid winged heartless wearing a hood, boots, pants, and claw gloves. There was red thorny 'belts' making an 'x' on its chest and around the wrists and ankles. "This is a Darkling. When a keyblade user falls to darkness, they are born. I heartless that can think and speak. Where they fall on the scale depends on who they were before." Zane explained remembering the Darkling who followed him around to hear his music.

The image faded leaving a normal hearth. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" Zane asked. "The world is full of colors of all kinds." Asriel said "That's not the wording I'd use but good enough." Zane shrugs. "Zane, what is 'Halloween'?" Toriel asks changing the subject. "It's a modern iteration of All Hallows Eve. One of the days when the barrier between this world and the spirit world is the thinnest. People disguised themselves as monster to hide from the spirits. Nowadays it's where kids dress up as monster and go door to door saying, 'trick or treat' to get treats." Zane said.

"That doesn't stop tricksters from having questionable fun. I hope that Worshipper of Janus learned his lesson after I gave him a Mexican hot foot." Zane mutters as they look at him silently asking for more information. Sootpuff was annoyed that Frisk stopped scratching but laughed "Tell me more. Did he hop around like a human pogo stick?"

"Fine. I've got time to tell one story before dinner. I the morning I need to head to the location of the Peace Summit." Zane sits by the hearth and lay the ground work for the tale he was about to tell.

Flashback

4 weeks ago

Buffy Verse (a different universe from Zane's)

Sunnydale, California

Halloween night

Zane was confused. One moment he was sound asleep next to his wife, now he was in the middle of a street with a bunch of Trick or Treaters running around acting crazy. Some teenaged striper ghost was calling him 'Xander' and there was the scent of darkness and chaos in the air. "Kid. I've got two questions. One, where am I? And why does it feel like we're standing on a gate to the Realm of Darkness?" Zane asked.

"You're not Xander? You dressed up as this cult of fire. What did he call it? Family of the flames?" She babbled "Children of the Hearth." Zane corrected. Zane was in his Hearth leader uniform, which consisted of a reddish brown hooded robe that hides the face completely with the mark of his goddess on the back, leather boots and gloves, the amulet that showed he was the leader, and the unbreakable fire poker carried by the one that was doing the talking at the time.

"One moment." Zane says then jabs the poker at the screaming trick or treaters. Burning chains bind them as they whimper and struggle to escape. "Those are kids!" the ghost says worried "They are unharmed. I just bound and silenced them. What is your name?" Zane waves her statement away. "I'm Willow. What do you mean the Realm of Darkness? The town is sitting on a Hellmouth." Willow, the ghost said as a kid wear a burlap sack walks up to them.

"You cursed too?" Zane asks. The kid shakes his head no and holds up a hand that says 'Sam'. "you're here because someone broke a rule. Any idea why this happened?" Zane got a yes to the first part and a no to the second. "Wait if that's not a kid then who is he?" Willow asked terrified. "Meet the spirit of Halloween, Sam. That's not his full name but it will do for now. With him around we'll solve this more smoothly." Zane explains then summons his keyblade grinning. "You don't mind me sealing this 'hellmouth' for good, do you?"

Willow confused said "It'd be nice if you could but that's not possible. Another will just open elsewhere at some point." Zane just raised the Keyblade to the moon and bounced a beam of light off it. The beam was reflected, striking a glowing seed under Sunnydale, locking the world for good.

The scent of darkness faded away mostly. Zane took a breath "that's better. You can thank me later." Zane said amused at her speechless expression. Sam applauded as Zane dismissed his keyblade. Turning to the bound treat or treaters, Zane spoke calmly "I'm going to let you go on one condition. You are to calming get somewhere safe. You monster help the others get there, got it?" Zane's look sent a chill down their spines. They may be monsters, but Zane was way scarier. They nod rapidly and Zane removes the spells.

Zane watches them leave. "That solves that problem. Do you have anyone else that might have fallen to this chaos curse?" Zane says using the fire poker to inspect her ghostly body. "Ouch! How are you poking me? I dressed up as a ghost, I should be untouchable." Willow said annoyed "You are astral projecting against your will, not a ghost. Some of the members of my group aren't corporeal to different degrees. Can't have the 'speaking stick' fall through them."

A scream cut through the air and Sam was missing. "Buffy! She dressed as an 18th-century English lady, she's in trouble." Willow runs off. Zane groaned. 18th-century English ladies were for the most part 'sit and let the men deal with things' type of people. It was the result of the time, some broke that mold but He had a feeling that's what he would be dealing with.

Later

Sunnydale High School

Library

Zane had dealt with most of the victims of the curse, some had to be intimidated into not adding to chaos, while others were calmer. 'Lady Buffy' was just as useless as he feared. He left some of the 'monsters' to guard the house while Willow guided Sam and him to Giles.

Giles was rubbing his glasses with a cloth so hard Zane wondered if they were going to break. "Let me get this straight. The spirit of Halloween is in town the same day that something decided it was a good idea to mess with Halloween. So much for a peaceful night." Giles sighs looking at Sam who stared at him. He drops a peppermint into Sam's bag and Sam stops staring.

"Judging by your appearance and the power you radiate; you are the Hearth Leader of the Children of the Hearth Cult." Giles guesses but Zane prods him. "We are not a cult. We are a group dedicated to the task that Our goddess Hestia has charged us." Zane said annoyed. "Make sure to Tell Zane the punishment for impersonating me is being drafted into the Children of the Hearth. That will teach him not to wear our garb without permission." Zane grumbled.

"Right. I'll let him know. How is Xander right now?" Giles asks. Zane dives into his own mind.

In Zane and Xander's mental plane

Zane found Xander in a comfy chair, snacking on sweets and watching Zane's memories. "I see you're enjoying yourself, Xander." Zane's foot was tapping, and his arms were crossed. "Well I found myself stuck here and there was this chair and pile of snacks. I didn't eat it at first, but this kaleidoscopic person told me not to worry and enjoy the apology snacks for using me to correct a persistent weed." Xander explained. "You know what, I'm not going to complain. That 'kaleidoscopic person' is high on the food chain of power. Did they look like this?" Zane shows Xander the raw chaos sphere. "Yeah, just like that but shaped like a person." Xander said snapping his fingers. "Just lovely. Chaos themselves is behind this."

"Um. That shopkeeper acted weird when he offered me the costume. In fact, he insisted I buy it." Xander explained. "So, Chaos piggybacked on someone else's plot. Did the shopkeeper have a name?" Zane pressed for information. Before Xander said anything, a memory played. It showed Ethan, the shopkeeper, selling the costumes to them. He acted quite strange as Xander said.

"You sit tight, and I'll tell the others what I learned, but you aren't off the hook. Just watch the memories about the Children of the Hearth and you will know who to contact." Zane ordered leaving the mental plane.

Back in the library

Zane grabbed Giles arm as he stood up to leave. "I see you know who behind this, right?" Zane asked annoyed. "Yes, it's an old friend." Giles said with an edge to his voice. "There more going on then you know. The primordial being Chaos took advantage of Ethan plan. I'm going with you. Sam you go keep an eye out for troublemakers." Sam nods then grabs Willows hand leading her away.

An hour later

Ethan's Costume Shop

"'Welcome Bird of the Hearth'. This is the place." Zane said looking for the focus of the spell. "Janus, roman god of endings and beginnings, choice, and other things. Hello Ripper." Ethan says strolling into view near the glowing bust (a shoulder and head statue) of Janus. "Sorry but you aren't the guest of honor, Ripper. It's nice you stopped by to visit but he is the one I've been waiting to meet."

Giles glared but let Ethan keep talking. I was just planning to stir up some chaos when THEY commandeered my body for a little bit. At first, I was mad but then THEY introduced themselves. It was Chaos! I was more than happy to let Chaos enact their plan. All I had to do was put up the banner and go with my original plan." Ethan laughed.

"How do I stop the spell, Ethan?" Giles asked ready to punch him bloody. "No can do. Chaos said I have to keep it running until they send a sign." Ethan laughed then jumped about in pain as flames licked at his feet. After ten minutes of this Ethan caved. "The Statue! IT's the focus! End the flames please!" He yelled at Zane. Zane throw the sphere of chaos at the bust, smashing it. A wave of magic zoomed out of it. Zane could feel the magic holding him there waning as he retrieved the chaos ball. "This was an interesting night. Just so you know, I sealed this world so tightly that there will never be another hellmouth again." That last thing Zane saw was the flabbergasted look on Giles face and Ethan laughing.

In the upper realms

The Powers That Be were throwing fit that all their plans were absolutely ruined because of an interloper. Zane had destroyed the Seed of Wonder then created a new one that imposed rules on those that was to walk the earth. The Seed of world was the source of magic for their earth and without the demons being able to come and go as they could before, their plan to bring things to the result they wanted were stopped.

Chaos watched them argue how they'd make Zane pay not realizing that they'd never be in power again. Janus sat next him enjoying the show. "When you act, you act. What's your next act?" Janus asked. In a voice indescribable Chaos said "nothing. Humanity will deal with what's coming without those fools using them like pawns."

End of flashback

"And takes what happened. I was used by Chaos for some reason. (Zane doesn't know about the Powers That Be being screwed over.) I really don't care why. The only upside to that was I met Sam. Almost no time have past and the only proof was a bag of candy and a life-size doll that looked like Sam." Zane finished stretching.

"It was interesting." Toriel said. "don't worry. The flames didn't burn him. They were a prank spell I found. It looks, smells, sounds, and feels real but the flames can't burn. It just looks like it." Zane said getting a laugh from Sootpuff. Toriel sighed then said "It's time for dinner. Go wash up." They do so.

A few days later

Secret location of the Peace Summit

Zane sat, in his human form, at the table were peace was to be made, waiting for the other kingdoms to arrive. "Is royal attire required?" Zane asked Regulus who was reading the newspaper to his left. "It's completely mandatory. It shows that you are serious about the treaty. I can't help but noticing the craftmanship of your attire. Is it Moogle made?" Regulus says turning a page.

Zane was wearing a crown that looked like a pair of golden detailed wings wrapping around to form the band with tiny gems set in it to add the red and orange shades to it. Stylized flame branches meeting at the peak of the crown capped by a gem craved to look like a munny. His mantle had the traditional white trim and the velvet was a dark red, hidden in the fabric was runes to protect the wearer from harm. His specter was a three-foot dark blue metal shaft topped with four mushroom heartless holding up a bulky vender heartless, all in gold with gems set in the 'dome' of the vender to represent the colorful balls in bulky vender.

"I'm not surprised if it is. I have no idea where they got the funds for it, probably selling synthesizing materials." Zane answered. King Asgore sitting across from him nodded saying "You look quite regal wearing it." Zane snorts "Regal, yes but also annoyed. The Crown fits fine but the mantle just pools around me as I walk. The specter is fine, if a little too fancy for my taste. The only times I wear this is at the most formal of occasions. There's a reason the dress code for the Children of the Hearth is so simple." Zane complained

Prince Lune sat next to his father when the cat guard they brought whispered into his ear. "Your guard is a heartless, right?" Prince Lune asked. "yes. She is a Darkling, a keyblade wielder who fell to darkness. She isn't a danger to us. Why do you ask?" Zane says as the Darkling in question stood straighter adjusting the red scarf that set her apart from others of her kind. "The Squirrel King and his platypus guard is arriving. His guard is known to devour bears, I was hoping that she'd be strong enough to protect us from the platypus, if the need arises." Lune says carefully.

A royal looking squirrel riding on the back of the most vicious looking platypus Zane has ever seen. "No way. Is that you, Muack?" Zane asked. The platypus looked at him then she replied in a dry sounding voice. "Oh, it's you. Don't you have a campfire to tend to? What's with the get up?" Zane chuckled. That was the dry response he remembered. "It's only been four years since my time at Camp Campbell as the 'Hearthkeeper'. I'm the king of the Prize Kingdom. Has that moron Campball tried to get the camp back from me?" Zane said not rising to her barbs.

Muack snorts in contempt "Haven't seen hide nor hair of him since you bought the whole area. Next time he shows his face, I'm biting his feet off first." She said, "how that runt of mine that you didn't let me eat?" Zane sighed "He's enjoying the easy life as a pet. How the campers?"

"They are still a bunch of hellspawns." She said flatly as the Squirrel King sat at his chair. "Thank you again, king Zane. I cannot express my gratitude for stopping that hook handed fiend named 'Quartmaster'." He said in a squeaky voice. "No problem." Zane replies.

"Zane, you know them?" Asgore asked shocked as the cats were. "I did some reconnaissance undercover in this summer camp after I heard about some kids hijacking a bus then crashing it. The owner was a moron and a con artist, so I bought the camp and the surrounding land. I stayed for a few summers to get to know the campers. They are troublemakers but fun kids." Zane explained remember the hijinks the campers got into.

A Pembroke Welsh Corgi jogged in wearing the Dog Kingdom's symbol on the back of his black outfit. "The royal adviser of the Dog Kingdom, Sir Walter. I'll will be representing the Dog Kingdom. His majesty is regrettably unable to leave the queen's side currently. She is with pups and must be protected." Sir Walter said with a strong welsh accent that took a moment to understand.

"That's great news. When is the litter expected?" Zane said happy, "sometime within the next few months. I did not expect you to be here, Sir Zane or should I say King Zane." Sir Walter said arching a brow. A black rat, wearing a crown, appears out of nowhere. "King Zane, representing the Bird Kingdom, the Prize Kingdom and the Moogles. On top of that, he's the Hearth Leader of the Children of the Hearth. Quite a resume. That not even touching the rest of his profile. You are a mystery; we rodents are wary about such mysteries." The Rat King's voice was soft as velvet.

From the last seat a reedy voice said. "He can be trusted. You told me you have the eye." A chameleon faded into view, eyes darting. Zane rolls the Basilisk's Eye over to him. The lizard snatched it up then inspecting it. "The King will be most pleased to have this returned. The payment will be deposited after the Summit concludes." The lizard refused to give his name. the next two weeks were filled with debates, arguments, and several moments where wars were almost started.

15 days later

Smash Mansion

The Gates of Hell Bar

"finally, all parties were happy, and the Hearth Treaty was signed. That's how the last two weeks were hell for me." Zane said as Rodin passes him a strong drink. "After dealing with that, first drinks on the house. You're still paying for the rest." Rodin said "Have you heard about the new fighter? A high schooler with the legendary thief to aid him. He goes by the name 'Joker'." Zane shoots up staring. "The Phantom Thieves of Hearts are here?"

"You know them?" Rodin inquires. "Not even my network could find much information. It's like they are phantoms. The irony is not lost to me." Zane laughed. "You'd be surprised what I knew about them. Then again, I'm from Earth Prime so maybe not." Zane steep his fingers grinning "Have you ever heard of the Velvet Room?" Zane hears a gasp from one of the people at the bar.

A young woman with brown hair in a bob cuts walked up to Zane. Her brown-red eyes inspected Zane from top to bottom, searching something. She takes a seat next to him. "What's this about Earth Prime?" She asks. Zane grins. They took the bait. "It's the original Earth. Pleasure to meet you, Makoto Niijima. Or do you prefer Queen, member of the Phantom Thieves?" Zane says so only her and Rodin heard him.

She looked ready to flee. "How did you find that out?" She says just as quietly. "Earth Prime had a lot of interesting things. Perhaps you could arrange a meeting with the rest of your group. I'm interested in discussing something with you guys." She pauses as if listening to someone then says "How does two weeks from now sound? Around noon?" Zane thinks about it. "sure, that fine. See you then." She walks off as Zane's grin widens "Just as I hoped. All I need to do is let them the work for me. I'll be able to spend a few weeks without worrying about politics!"

Rodin arched a brow. "Your stirring up a hornets' nest, you know?" Zane grin didn't falter "I know. That's I'm hoping for." Zane said sipping his drink "Knowing them, they will do their thing and I will get what I want. I won't spoil the surprise too soon."

two weeks later

Zane's Mind Space

Archive of the Dead

"That this place is freaky." Skull said looking at the towering stone bookcases filled with written records of all kinds. Books, scrolls, slats, and much more lined each shelf. The library felt more like a tomb to them. "Skull, these are records of people." Oracle said scanning the nearby shelves. "Most likely every single one is just like this one. 'Hazel died in his sleep at the age of 97 years, 3 months, 17 days, 6 hours, 55 minutes, and 12 seconds after he was born.'" She closes the book and puts it back. "This is whole place is a record of the dead?" Fox said looking at the sheer size of the place.

"Indeed, it is." The cogitation of Death (shortened to C-Death) said rounding the corner. He looks at the four Phantom Thieves. "where are the rest of you? There's 8 of you, right?" C-Death asked annoyed. They eyed the scythe he was carrying. "We split up at the entrance." Panther said as C-Death gestured for them to follow him. "This is the records of every human, animal and plant that lived on Earth Prime. Come, you have more to see." C-Death drifted down the paths in a confusing set of turns, ending at a nondescript stretch of wall. Flashing a sigil at the wall made an opening reveal itself.

"This way, your friends will be waiting for you." C-Death said forcing them to enter.

Elsewhere at the same time

Zane's Mind Space

Burden of Power

Joker, Mona, Noir, and Queen walked down an endless flagstone hallway of statues. They were sure they were in a loop. No matter how far they walked they never got to the end. Each statue was of Zane's roles and the titles that were connected to them. "I can't tell if he's egocentric or wears a lot of hats." Mona, the only none human member of the Phantom Thieves, (He's a cat) said reading one of the plaques. "I mean, who calls himself 'Lord of the Skies'?" Joker was looking at the expressions on the statues. "I don't think he wanted most these. That one I'm sure he wanted." Joker pointed to a statue of Zane posing with Aqua and Sakura. The plaque read 'father/husband'.

"They look happy. Most of the others have this hardened look to them, yet this one he looks peaceful." Noir said gazing sadly. "You are correct. Of all the titles, that one is one he will never give up even if he was given the chance." The cognition of Master Eraqus said looking at a statue entitled 'Keyblade Master'. "You're Master Eraqus, right?" Queen asked C-Eraqus. "are you aware your real self is dead?"

C-Eraqus did answer at first. "I'm all too aware of the real Eraqus' fate. The question is do you know why you are here?" He questioned. "We entered this place on his request exchange for his silence about who we are. We simply need to navigate the paths and find proof that we reached the heart of it." Noir said. "What happened to you? The only thing we found out was that you were killed."

"I was struck down in cold blood by one I trusted." C-Eraqus said leaving them speechless "come, you mustn't waste your time here." He waits for them to discus their next action. "Lead the way." Joker said coolly. C-Eraqus summons his keyblade and opens a hidden stairwell. "You must have noticed that the hallway loops forever? It is just one of many traps that Zane's mind has lovingly created to deal with intruders. He has many secrets, including the one you were sent to find." C-Eraqus said as they descended.

"Perhaps you can tell us what we are looking for?" Noir asked C-Eraqus laughed "I don't have the permission to know that information. What I do know is that, it is the 'Oath' that binds Zane's family yet give them all the freedom they desire. Quite a paradox." They pondered this as they continued walking.

An hour later

Zane's Mind Space

Gallery of Blood

The two groups exited doorways next to each other that vanished soon after. The Gallery they found themselves in was nicely lit with art pieces on the walls, on the floor, and hanging from the ceiling. In the center sat a glass box. as they got nearer, they saw a man going about his daily route without even hearing them.

"welcome to the Gallery of Blood. I am Master Xehanort and I was will be your tour guide for this stretch of your journey." The cognition of old man Xehanort said then raises his hands to show he meant no harm as they aimed their weapons at him. "I am the curator of the Gallery of Blood. The place where all the conflict that Zane has been involved in. This is Kira Yoshikage, a sociopath who Zane killed." C-Xehanort said gesturing to the glass box.

"So, this is the history of the battles Zane's been in? where do you fit in? All the other cognitions were connected to Zane in some way. Death was the reaper who was assigned to him. Eraqus is his teacher who was killed about two decades ago." Mona puzzled out loud. C-Xehanort chuckled sadly "I am the fool who was used to start a war. I even killed my friend Eraqus. Don't worry, I've been dead for the past 8 years and counting. All that is left is memories and an echo to recount the events of the past."

C-Xehanort guided them to a part of the gallery displaying types of Heartless. "Once upon a time, I throw Zane into the Realm of Darkness to remove him from the chessboard. He survived for a year or two there and got back in time to fight in the final clashes." C-Xehanort explained as they passed paintings of the climax of the war. "But that was just the start of his journey. Alas, this is where we part ways. Jump into this painting to reach the next area." He said pointing to a painting of clouds.

"Let's go." Joker said and then they jump in. the Painting ripples as they pass through it like water. C-Xehanort walked away to resume his work. He had more art to arrange. He was lucky not to be trapped as tightly as Kira was. He was given the freedom to see what new friends and foes Zane made.

Zane's Mind Space

Clouded Past

They were in a mist shrouded forest. Mona, hearing something, sticks his head into an opening in a weeping willow. A few moments later, he removes hi head looking sad. "The trees have memories playing in them. I'm guessing that we're looking for the right tree." Panther looking worried asked "What did you see?" Mona looked away. "the loss of a parent can drive people to do questionable things. Even making deals with questionable sources." He explained vaguely.

"Quite right. On the bright side, Zane got lucky that time. He's got all the treasures of the world just waiting for him to find and protect. The only downside is that he's not going to have a peaceful life, not that it was going to happen with the family he's a part of." The cognition of Lupin III said this as he lounged in the branches of a beech tree. He was holding an old dented bronze lantern in one hand and lighting a cig with his other. "here's the deal. Normally, you would need to track down this lantern, hidden among the many trees." C-Lupin III said enjoying their expressions of horror. "Good news is that you have it easy. Ask me any three questions and if you guess who I am or who I am related to, and it's yours."

Before they said anything, he added "Only Joker may ask the questions without help from the rest of you. Do we have a deal?" they huddled and weighed their options. As much as they didn't trust him, they decided to agree to the deal. "Good. I will answer the question with complete honesty, but you can't ask for names or titles." C-Lupin III explained.

"My first question is, what is your profession?" Joker asked. Smirking C-Lupin III answered "I liberate things from the hand of their owners. I'm quite good at it too. Next question." Joker's mind raced. That sounded like a thief, in fact the way he carried himself reminded Joker of another Master Thief. Taking the chance, he asked "Do you have a famous French relative?" C-Lupin III laughed "Boy do I. He was well known for his deeds; people still talk about him today. You've got one question left, kid. Make it count."

Joker knew who it was, but he asked one last question to solidify his hunch. "was he on the wrong side of the law despite doing good?" C-Lupin sighed "You got the that right. I'm sure you know who my grandfather was, so say the name." Joker smiled "You are Lupin III grandson of Arsene Lupin the Gentleman Thief." C-Lupin III throws the lantern to Joker then jumps down. "It was nice to meet you, Joker. Zane doesn't know I changed the plan yet." Noir confused asked "Then why do it?" C-Lupin III grins "Because if I followed the rules then I would be a Master Thief. I love how you took a page from my book and announce the crime before it happens. If you see a trio of Clouds, don't tell them what I did." He jumps away and vanishes.

Last Train Home zooms into the area searching. "He did it again! Why do we keep him around if he does things like this?" Train said annoyed. "He wouldn't me him otherwise" Last said then leaving. "Come on we can't talk to them. Boss's orders" Train said to Home. As they leave the Phantom Thieves alone, Home drops a note.

"guys, those clouds have a similar energy to our personas. Not quite the same but They weren't cognitions or shadows." Oracle said looking at the data she got. "They might be like me. A manifestation of a concept." Mona theorized. "what does the note say?" Panther picks it up and unfolds it. "It's a bunch of gibberish, with a feather doodled on corner?" She said turning it about. Mona takes it then has a lightbulb moment. "Joker fold it into a crane."

Joker does so. The letters spelled out a message 'feed the light protection and hope'. "Oh, come on! What is with this crazy place? It's worse than some of the Palaces." Skull yelled frustrated. "We need to find Dill and Iris." Fox said searching the ground. "I don't think it's time to do gardening. We need to get out of here before we get lost." Skull argued.

"I think he's right. It's symbolism." Queen said out loud. After searching for hours, they couldn't find any Dill or Iris plants. They were careful not to trample the plants as they moved about the forest. They found themselves at the base of a tree that was miles across and so tall it touched the unseen sky.

"Is it just me or is something glowing climbing down the tree?" Noir asked staring upwards. Sure, enough sitting on a ridge just out of reach was a cognition of Ori, holding a bundle of Dill and Iris. "I don't think force is the answer to this problem." Queen said stopping Skull from trying to climb the tree. Joker noticed that C-Ori's eyes were locked on the origami crane. He moved it left her eyes moves left too.

"Trade for the bundle?" Joker offered. C-Ori paused, and they held their breath as she descended to their level. She sat adorably waiting. Joker sets the crane down and she took it with chirp and ran up the tree. "Look's like we just put this in the lantern." Oracle puts the plants into the base and closed it up.

The lantern blazed to life. It only shined when it was pointed in a one particular direction. They followed the light to a clearing with mushrooms forming a Fairy Ring. "here goes nothing." Skull says walking into the ring. He vanished in a cloud of butterflies. One by one they entered the ring and vanished like he did.

Zane's Mind Space

The Hearth

It was a black void with only log benches and a blazing hearth. "welcome to The Hearth, the heart of this place." A robed figure said. "You may call me Elder Laskaris. A creation of my goddess to remind the Laskaris clan of the duty they shoulder for better and worse." They sit down as he hands them marshmallow roasting sticks. "I know why you are here. You don't need to say anything. Have smores and witness the oath that bind this clan for all eternity.

The fire shifted and they saw the day Hestia came to the farmer's aid and the day she came to tell him of the price for his prayer. "Man. That is a little unfair. A whole family chained to an oath on the Styx. Why did he even make that deal?" Skull said trying to wrap his mind around it. "The way I look at it is that he was good to the future." Elder Laskaris said "Without her help the family line would have ended much sooner. The Children of the Hearth have been working in the background for a long time. Each member does their part. I'd say Zane is the most successful Hearth Leader to date. Wouldn't surprise me if you met members and didn't know it."

"We still have questions." Oracle said, "why does he have a cognition of his most hated enemy and what are those clouds?" Elder Laskaris nodded "The clouds are his stand, a manifestation of his fighting spirit. Think of them like a persona not limited to the template of myths and legends. Xehanort, on the other hand, is a reminder. What he is a reminder of, it's not my place to say. He does his job and Zane sometimes visits him."

A door appeared and Elder Laskaris gestured to it. "It's time for you to leave. It's pleasure to meet new faces, even if it's so briefly." He said as they finished off the smores and bid him farewell. Someone in shadows spoke up. "I don't know what you are trying to pull. You planted the idea to let them in here in Zane's head, then you lead them unseen. They bypassed many of the traps and learned the full details of that day. You know that is to only be told to the Hearth Leader after they are deem worthy." The person said with distain. "Give me one reason I shouldn't shove you into a coffin and drop you in the Forbidden Valley with all the hellish nightmares."

Elder Laskaris kept tending the fire. "I have done as I always have, protecting the Laskaris Clan from being forgotten. If I must plant a few ideas into their heads to get them off a downward spiral of self-destruction, then so be it. They choose to run with the idea of their own free will. Zane's not the sanist person but it was my 'mental manipulations' that helped him remain alive in the Realm of Darkness. You, on the other hand, are just a digital demon who latched on to his Wrath." Elder Laskaris jabs the poker at the shadowy figure.

The figure stared back. "I suppose you are right in the grand scheme of things. Being almost deleted was unpleasant and his wrath shined like a beacon." The figure laughed wickedly. "When I connected with him, I got to witness his wrath glassing his enemies beautifully savage. I waited years for my chance get back at my comrade. Unfortunately, the last one in a dark prison and I can't reach him without Zane's help. That prideful brat is at the top of my list. Zane just happens to have the right tool to reach the world connected to it. Would you be willing to help me?" The figure said extending a clawed hand.

Elder Laskaris snorted "so that's your endgame. Why does Zane even keep you around?" The figure came into the light showing it was a demonic man cloaked in red with horns and wings. His glowing eyes, all that was seen of his face, showed amusement. "He finds some of my strategies and tactics useful. Not many know how to use one's wrath productively better than I do. By the way, his Wrath is so refined, like wine. Protective Wrath is a rare treat, mainly because it can be spoiled so easily. In the end, we both get what we want." The Figure said gesturing as he described it.

Elder Laskaris begrudgingly shook his hand. "You better not screw this up, Daemon." Daemon just eye smiled saying, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Later

Smash Mansion

Private meeting room

"Well done navigating the perplexing place that is my mind. Tell no one what you saw in there. "Zane said sitting across from Joker and Mona. "then why did you let us in there at all?" Mona asked. Zane sighed "To lighten the burden I've carried for the last decade. You heard the unabridged oath. You know the true extent of what he did that day. He closed doors permanently to open other doors." Zane explained.

"Was the oath the only choice he had? Surely there was other options." Joker asked. "without that miracle, the family line would have ended by the end of that year at the latest. Without crops or animals there would be no way to keep food on the table. Winters would be a death sentence and so many priceless things would be lost to the sands of time."

"That makes sense. You said you had something to shows us." Mona said as Zane set a familiar lantern on the table before them. This one looked brand new and had the air of rightness to it. Runes of an unknown language were inlayed into the metal. "I visited the Fair folk with an interesting request not too long ago. I challenged them to turn the discarded hopes and dreams from the River Styx into something new. What I got was this lantern. It will only shine when it is truly needed and no sooner."

"Then why keep it?" Joker pointed out. Zane smiled "Because it is the Hope of Humanity. Given a new purpose and a chance to shine brightly, just like the Laskaris Clan." Zane said and they understood. "So, it's a symbol?" Joker asked. "Oh, knowing the fair folk, it's got a few tricks just waiting to be uncovered. Thank you for listening to my selfish request."

"It was an interesting venture." Joker extends a hand and they shake on it.

A few days later

An uninhabited world "Living Fire World"

Zane was relaxing in the magma chamber of a volcano. Zane had found out he swim in magma like it was a warm hot spring. The world he was on consisted of volcanos, lava, and patches of rock here and there. All in all, a place were only beings of fire could exist. He came here to think without worries of being attacked.

The only 'living' creature that was here, was pools of memory magma. Memory Magma have curious ability to think and shaped itself to whatever it chose to look like. Seeing as Zane was the only thing that came to this world, its forms were limited to the ones Zane had told it about.

"Daemon, you have been dancing around the subject for the last decade. Who is this 'prideful angel brat' you are always muttering about? Is he one of the other demon lords that you were in a group with?" Zane pressed. "you are correct. Lucemon is the Great Demon Lord of Pride and it's time he was reminded who the strongest of our group is. He's currently locked Laskaris away but I know he has a way out. I was hoping you'd be willing go where he is and help the locals deal with him." Daemon said from Zane's mind.

"what kind of locals?" Zane asks sighing contently. "The Digimon leaders and the chosen children that the Sovereign send to deal with any problem that proves to be harder to deal with." Daemon said as Zane shoots up. "They send children to deal with city destroyers? Who in their right mind does that!" Zane shouts, jumping out of the magma very annoyed. "Humans have the right stuff to help Digimon reach new heights of power. I believe the phrase is 'My friends are my power'." Daemon said dryly. "Sora does say that a lot. How many groups of kids saved the world?" Zane asked. "Well there's been a few that I'm aware of. There was that one Digimon that tried to destroy time and space, but he was stopped. The point is that, human kids tend to fix problems the big wig Digimon fail to do." Daemon mused.

"Where do I need to go?" Zane said shaking off excess magma. "Who'll need to use Alice Gate. I'll walk you through the steps." Daemon said please it was working.

Later

Digilegend Earth (Digimon Frontier based world)

Shibuya train station

Zane had just missed the elevator that would have got him to the Digiworld easier. A kid banged on the door and was about to run to the stairs, but Zane grabbed his arm. "Kid. If you're trying to head them off than I know a shortcut. I know where they're headed and I'm going that way too." Zane said leading him to the bottom floor. "What's your name? Mine is Laskaris Zane. That's how you say it, family then personal, right?" Zane introduced himself mental padding himself on the back for remembering how the Japanese say names.

"Kimura Kouichi and yes that how we say it. How are we going to get where my twin brother is?" Kouichi asked as Zane used chalk to draw a circle and digicode runes. "every system has the front door and a few sides doors but those are 'invite only' for the most part. What I'm doing is using a back door that requires one of seven keys and a tool I have." Zane said finishing the last symbol. He took out Alice Gate and opened the 'back door', a glitching archway with a blank seal locking it. Zane struck it with a hand covered in an orange digital aura.

"Level: 666 System: SATAN Code: WRATH." Zane said as the seal changed to Daemon's seal and completed the connection. "Are you sure this is safe?" Kouichi asked warily. "It's the only way there we've got and with the ally I've got, it will get us there intact." Zane said. They jump in.

On the way to the digiworld

"this is not good." Zane said as he lost Kouichi at some point. The exit was close, and he braced for impart.

Digiworld(Frontier)

The Rose Morning Star

Cherubimon watched as his new pawn kneeled before him. Duskmon (a humanoid Digimon wearing black armor with seven oversized eyes on the feet, knees, shoulders and chest) was just one of the legendary warriors he bent to his will. He was interrupted why a Digimon slammed into him. "What do we have here?" It was a Tsukaimon, a purple guinea pig with ear bat wings. The fallen angel beast Digimon picked up the intruder and inspected it. "That is the last time I use the demon lords' back doors if I can help it." Cherubimon's eyes widen. "Which one gave you access to those paths?" He questioned. "Daemon. Wait a second! Why am I at rookie level?" the Tsukaimon ranted.

"Those back doors use a lot of energy. I could lend you some for a price." Cherubimon said in a soothing voice. "What's the price?" The Tsukaimon said. "All you need to do is shadow my warriors and report everything to me. Try not to get deleted." Cherubimon said. "That's it? Sounds fair. It'll help me track down someone that was traveling with me. He got swept away on the way here. This wasn't even the intended exit location. The name's Zane." Zane, who was in the guise of a digimon, said.

"I am Cherubimon, and this is my warrior of darkness, Duskmon." Cherubimon says giving Zane some energy. "Duskmon, Zane will be shadowing you incase you miss something or, however unlikely, try to betray me. Is that clear?" Duckmon still kneeling said "Crystal. The objective is the same for the other warriors, my lord?" Cherubimon grinned. "That is correct. No matter how much I trust them not to betray me, I can't ignore that possibility from happening. Insure that Zane does not get deleted, He's useful to me no matter how weak he is." Cherubimon ordered.

Later

Zane was told to wait for the rest of Cherubimon's warriors to arrive. Duskmon was watching the moon silently on the roof. Zane flew up there to see if he could strike up a conversation. "Duskmon, what do you know about the other warriors?" He asked. The eyes on Duskmon's armor swivel to look at him. It was a little creepy in Zane's opinion. "He has the warriors of Water, Metal, Wood, and Earth under his command. Keep an eye out for Mercurymon." Duskmon said emotionlessly. "You don't fear me? Why is that?" Zane noticed a hint of an emotion in that question. "It's because I've seen Daemon in person. He's one of the strongest mega level digimon so you aren't as scary." Duskmon contemplates this answer. "I see."

An hour later

"Zane will shadow each one of you for a set period of missions. He is to be treated as an ally. I expect him to remain mostly unharmed. If you feel he will be deleted by an enemy, stop it from happening. That is all." Cherubimon ordered his warriors and other Digimon pawns. "Lord Cherubimon, no disrespect, but what makes that rat with wings so important?" the southern belle sounding Warrior of water, Ranamon asked politely as she kneeled like the rest of them.

"Zane has ties with Daemon. I'm sure you are aware of how dangerous he is when slighted." Cherubimon say enjoying how they flinched when he said that name. Grumblemon, the gnome like warrior of earth spoke up next. "What will creampuff be looking for, my lord? Grumblemon wishes to know to be on lookout." Mercurymon, the mirror faced warrior of metal answered this question. "My crumbly friend, I believe that he is here to make sure our work ethnic is up to Lord Cherubimon's standards." Grumblemon understood that not knowing that Mercurymon left out the fact Zane was looking for any sign of betrayal.

The laid-back warrior of wood, Arbormon sighed "So much for my relaxation plans." Cherubimon said one last thing before sending them off to start his plans. "As long as you do fall behind, I will not be too angry. You're all dismissed." He leaves Zane with the warriors as he goes off to deal with some things.

"So, who shall be the first to shoulder this task?" Mercurymon asks. "I'll do it. Come on Zane. I heard a rumor about something interesting that will help with the task." Arbormon says as Zane flies after him.

A few months later

KaratsukiNumemon Mountain

Zane was stopping himself from doing anything as Grumblmon found his Beast Spirit and took it for a spin. It was torture for Zane as he was forced to watch them take the code of each place they attacked, but he had to stick to the plan. Gigasmon, Grumblemon's beast spirit, looked like a rocky troll, very tall and quite strong. As Gigasmon took the data of the mountain a boulder hit Zane, sending him into the void along with the chosen children.

A long fall later

An open field

"I don't see why should take him with us. He's the enemy remember?" JP, a big boned kid with brown hair wearing a blue jump suit said. This was the wielder of the Spirit of Thunder. They had hog tied Zane so he couldn't escape, not that it'd be hard to do so. "JP! He was trapped under a boulder bigger than that brute Gigasmon. He might be evil, but it'd make us worse if we left him there." Zoe, the wielder of the spirit of Wind said offended he's would suggest such a thing. She was the one carrying Zane, how was in his rookie form.

"We will integrate him and extract all the information we can." Bokomon, a historian from the Fire Terminal said searching for what Digimon Zane was in the book he carried in his belly band. "He looks like a Patamon to me" Neemon, a dimwitted yellow rabbit looking Digimon wear red stretchy pants, said making Meemon pull on the wistband of said pants and hit him with it like a rubber band. "You ninny. Patamon are orangey yellow, not purple!"

Zane and the two humans sigh as the two start to argue. "You could just ask you know?" Zane offered. That stopped the arguing Digimon. "What digimon are you?" Zoe asked. "I am currently a Tsukaimon." Zane says as Bokomon flips to the right page. "'Tsukaimon, a Rookie level virus Digimon with a taste for brawling. It can burn you, poison you, insult you or blow you away.' Quite arsenal of attacks." He looks at the next page. "Often used as messengers for fallen angel Digimon." JP looks at Zane "You can get out of that rope at anytime you wanted, right?" Zane shrugged "Yeah. Didn't feel like it yet. That boulder was quite heavy so I'm resting."

Zoe unties the rope and gives it to JP, who pockets it. "Now that we've untied you will you tell us what you know?" Zoe asked batting her eyes. "One, I don't work for Cherubimon. I'm just doing a favor for him. I was low on energy and gave some to me. All I had to do was report if I spotted traitors among the ranks." Zane said. "Then who are you following?" JP demanded. "You happen to be looking at the closest ally to Daemon. Daemon wants to let a comrade of his know how displease he is, so he sent me." Zane said watching the confused expressions on all but Bokomon, who looked pale as a ghost.

"'Daemon, Mega level Virus Digimon. He is the Great Demon Lord of Wrath, one of the rulers of the Dark Area. He uses his Dark Inferno attack to turn those who slight him to ash.'" He stammered. "Just pointing out that the angel brat is sealed on one of the smaller Dark Areas. The True Dark Area is much larger and much more populated than the bird cage Lucemon is trapped in. I still can't believe they let him rule over digimon after the rebellion he pulled back in the day." Zane commented.

"Wait they knew he was cruel, and they still gave him the job to make peace?" JP asked shocked. "Yep. The plan kind of worked but he went back to his old ways and got thrown into a smaller jail after a 10 v 1 battle with the legendary warriors." Zane said lounging on JP's head. "What does Daemon have against Lucemon?" Bokomon asked "Oh nothing much, just almost deleted him and threw him into the void between worlds. The currents carried him all the way to the place that was my personal hell for a few years. We bonded over the desire to get back at back stabbing traitors." Zane said mildly. Their expressions were wide eyed shock. "I never said I was the sanest being. I'm nowhere near the most insane but you know." Zane trailed off. "So, you're angry buddies with Daemon?" Neemon asked. Zane started laughing. "Something like that. I heard voices over that way." Zane points deeper into the corn field.

Later

Digimon elementary school

Zane was talking to the teacher, a togamon (a boxing cactus Digimon). "So, because he could digivolve they alienated him? Somethings never change." Zane sighed Togamon sighed as well "I'm sure they will come around soon. This happens from time to time." She said sadly. "I'm afraid to ask, but does something like this happen in the human world? You visited it so you might know solutions I haven't thought of." She hoped. Zane brainstormed then said, "I have an idea that might work."

Ten minutes later

Zane was at the chalkboard writing the lesson subject. "Welcome back. I hope you enjoy recess. This lesson will be covering digivolution and why it can be helpful. Digivolution when you reach the next level. These levels are in order: Fresh, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega. The rule of thumb is that digivolving will give you more power and with some training, refining your control over that power. In some cases, you gain limbs you didn't have before. Like longer arms and leg. The thing to remember is that you are still you, your personality may change but it will be mostly the same unseen somethings messes with digivolution. Any questions?" Zane lectured the class.

After some questions that were easily answered, Togamon asked a question Zane was waiting for. "Zane, you seem to know a lot about this subject. Can you digivolve?" Zane was going to answer when it started to rain hard. "Class! Get to the roof! This is not a drill!" Togamon ushered them to the roof of the hut as the rain intensified.

"is it going to flood?" Zane asked Togamon. "It might. It hasn't before but we've never had this much rain. The KaratsukiNumemon Mountain stops most of the rain normally. Something must have happened for there to be this much rain." Zane flinched at that. He let this happen, so he'd stop it.

Jumping off the hut code wrapped around him as he digivolved to his champion level Devimon, a tall and thin looking horned Digimon clad in black with tattered wings. Zane grabbed a boulder bigger than the hut and slammed it down so it would part the water around the hut. Bracing himself, he held it in place. "I don't know if this will hold but it's the best I can do on short notice!" Zane yelled as the flood rushed down the meadow.

JP and Zoe flew in as their human spirit forms, Beatlemon and Kazemon respectively. "About time you got here!" Zane yelled as the water slowly pushed him back. Beatlemon blasted a trench and Kazemon pushed the water down it. Working together they saved the school and the Digimon.

Later after the rain stopped

Zane, still in his champion form, was sunbathing, when Zoe came up to him. "I heard what you did earlier. All the Digimon want to digivolve into a form as cool as yours." She said smiling. "I didn't expect that reaction so soon. You do know I have to report in that I'll alive." Zane said staring at the sky. She sat next to him. "you're not a bad Digimon deep down. I hope we don't have to fight." She said, "The deal said nothing about fighting, so I'm not obligated to fight you Chosen Children." Zane said before he was dog piled by the class. They were thanking him for saving them and being a cool teacher.

Zane was persuaded to stay until the end of the day. He was perching on the roof singing a song he heard from anime. It was called 'I Do' By Ilaria Graziano. Zoe who spoke Italian joined him for an encore of the song. "Simplify beautiful singing you two. The class made gifts for you before you departed." Togamon said showing them the wind sail for Zoe's group and a medallion with the digicode for hero on it for Zane. "It's lovely, I'll keep it safe and remember you guys every time I wear it." Zane says taking off.

A few hours later

Forest Kingdom hideout

Zane landed and was greeted by Grumblemon hugging him apologizing repeatedly. "What did I miss after the boulder trapped me?" Zane asked as Grumblemon continued to apologize. "That rocks for brains was going to be deleted if you turned out to be deleted because of his blunder. Luckily, you're fine and you finally reached champion level. I must say you look much better now that you aren't a rat with wings." Ranamon said walking around him as Zane pried Grumblemon off him. Mercurymon was sitting off to the side looking amused.

"You have interesting hobbies when you aren't on the clock. Lecturing young Digimon, stopping a flood, singing with the enemy. What would Cherubimon think of that?" He said with a knowing smile. "One, he doesn't care what I do as long as I don't help the chosen children. All I did was insure there is more Digimon that will see past the appearance of a mon. Remember, my only job is to shadow you warriors. Nothing more, nothing less." Zane said raining the attempt at black mail.

Grumblemon had use the time to tunnel away with renewed vigor. "He's after the spirits again?" Zane asked. "Without a doubt." Ranamon said relaxing by a pool and admiring herself.

 **Author's note: These chapters seem to write themselves. Zane tangled with politics and you got a glimpse into his mind. The Hunt for Lucemon is just the first of the Digimon worlds he'll be visiting. After all there is five more Demon Lord to hunt down. See you next time as the hunt continues!**


	16. Swanky Street

**Welcome to the next chapter. Time in the Digiworld is much faster than time in the real world until after the dark masters were defeated, so when Zane leaves it will be less than a day. There will an encounter with some interesting people.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 16: Swanky Street**

Two days later

Digiworld (Frontier era)

Forest Kingdom hideout

"You lost your beast spirit? You really are rocks for brains if you let the brat make a fool of you like that!" Ranamon said laughing at Grumblemon. "Well you no find beast spirit, so you have no room to talk." Grumblemon fired back. Zane just sat back with Arbormon watching the argument progress. "they really get on each other's nerves quite easily." Zane said. Arbormon nodded saying "that sums it up."

A few day later

Forest Kingdom Hideout

"So, Grumblemon bit the dust. Those children are proving to be stronger than expected" Zane said to the only Digimon that was there, Mercurymon. "Tis a small price for taking the data of Seraphimon. Cherubimon was pleased to hear that. He doesn't mind what you did at the school after all. Perhaps it was because they are still moldable." Mercurymon says hinting at what he could do.

They were interrupted when Renamon stomped in ranting up a storm. "tactical retreat?" They asked each other at the same time then made tracks as Renamon started to trash the hideout. They watched in horror as the roof shook and dust fell more and more. "What are the chances the base will be still standing?" Zane asked as she had slide evolved to her beast form. Calmaramon looked like and upside-down squid with the torso of a woman coming out of where it's mouth would be, the definition of 'Sea Hag'.

"Highly unlikely." Mercurymon said as another quake shakes the base. "I don't know about you, but I'm out of here." Zane flies away. He was not staying in a base that was falling apart around him.

Later

The Autumn Fair

Zane was wandering the stalls was he was confronted by Takuya, the wielder of the spirits of fire. "What are you doing here?" He said trying to look tough. "I'm here to enjoy the fair. The base I was staying at does not have sea hag insurance." Zane deadpanned. Takuya tries to him a wince at that, but Zane noticed. "How bad are we talking?" Zane shuddered. "on a scale one to ten. One being a little girl throwing a hissy fit and ten being my wife on the war path. I'd say a six or seven."

"That's bad. Wait wife?" Takuya asked "Yeah. I'm happily married. And I'm not exaggerating when I say my wife on a war path scared me to death and back." Zane warns. A plant monster Digimon appears in a cloud of rubble and dust. "Oh, come on! Not only is the sea hag having hissy fit but Petaldramon is reenacting Gojira movie!" Zane yelled to the heavens as the giant wooden gecko with a moss coat and a leaf mane docked it out with a yeti like ape Digimon wielding axes. "that's was beast spirit of ice, Korikakumon." Zane said flatly. Takuya shocked asked "That's Tommy?" Zane not even looking said. "If you mean the little kid wearing the big hat, then yes. That's Tommy." Takuya runs towards the mini kaiju battle. "I have no words to describe how crazy this is." Zane said, "Your order is almost ready." A duel sound voice said. Gallentmon, a royal knight Digimon, was the local blacksmith waked up to Zane. "The sword you gave us to work with is well made. Did you make it?" Gallentmon referred to himself in the purl for some reason but Zane didn't mind. "Yes. It was the sword I forged as the 'final exam' from my blacksmith teacher."

"He trained you well. We have infused Gold Chrome Digizoid into the blade as you requested. It took a month to do it, but this blade will never break. What is its name?" Gallentmon asked "Callisthenes. It means Deadly Beauty." Zane says. Gallentmon nods then they got to his forge. Zane watched him inscribe the name in digicode into the blade. Seeing that the job is done, Gallentmon slides the blade into the Red Chome Digizoid sheath Zane had also commissioned. "This is one of our finest works. We have left instruction how clean and care for it in the case." He puts the weapon into a sword case, handing it to Zane.

As Zane left the Fair, he noted that the fight was over. Maybe he should go to that Burger Digimon Village he heard about.

A few days later

Hamburger Village

"This is one of the best burgers I've ever had!" Zane said ordering another one. He was about to eat when it was snatched from him by Petaldramon, who eat it in one bite. "Oh, come on! I ordered that! Get your own!" Zane yelled shaking a fist at the Beast spirit of wood. He was swatted into a tree and the Father Burgermon, a mustached Digimon wearing a chef's coat and a burger bun as a hat, was kidnapped as Zane spat out leaves and twigs.

Mother Burgermon, looks like her husband but wears an apron and mustache, was crying as her five children TorikaraBallmon, who looked like chicken nuggets, looked sad too. "This was not in the job description." Zane grumbled extracting himself from the tree. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for not stopping him. His boss has me shadowing his employees, but I didn't know he goes burger crazy like that." Zane explained shaking splitters out of his wings.

Mother Burgermon shook her head. "It's not your fault. My husband's burgers were just too good. How will we make a better burger?" Zane sighed. "How long do you have before the deadline?" The TorikaraBallmon brighten up at this question. "one mouth. You'd help?" She asked. "I'll do my best." Zane said whipping out an apron. The TorikaraBallmon cheer.

A few weeks later

Zane tried everything. The burgers were bad, good, or ok. None of them were as good as Father Burgermon's. "I'm so sorry. Your husband is one hell of a chef." Zane sat down spent of ideas and energy. There was a knock on the door so Mother Burgermon went to answer it. She was telling someone there was no burgers then let them enter. Must have offered to help.

"You!" the chosen Children stood before him with JP, Takuya, and the wielder of the spirits of light looked ready for a fight. "No need to fight. I'm off the clock. My name is Zane and I had nothing to do with the kidnapping. The wood gecko stole my food before I could enjoy it." Zane said with an annoyed huff. They introduced themselves. Zane knew most of the name but Koji, the wielder of the spirits of light reminded Zane of someone. "Koji, you remind me of someone I've been looking for. His name is Koichi, does that ring a bell?" Zane asked. Koji said nothing not trusting him. "If you're here to invent a better burger then you'll need this." Zane sets a handwritten book. "It's all the combinations I've tried so far."

They got to work quickly leaving Zane to sit with Bokomon and Neemon. "Some of these entries sound good. You don't mind if I add those to my collection of books?" Bokomon asked "Zane shrugged "give credit to the ones that created each one and I'll be happy. What's with the egg?" Zane points to the digiegg Bokomon was carrying in his belly band. "A very important egg." Zane nodded then decided to take a nap.

A week later

Zane was impressed. Not only did Tommy make a better burger, he helped get Father Burgermon back. Takuya and Koji on the other hand invented several foul-tasting burgers trying to one up each other. Zane was enjoying Tommy's 'better burger' to the fullest. They had already gone on ahead to where ever they were going. They didn't talk about it nor did Zane ask.

Zane tipped the cook and left to see who he was shadowing next.

A week later

Dark continent

Zane was sitting at the fire with the Chosen Children's group. "Takuya, judging from your expression you have something to ask." Zane said adding a log to the fire. "I saw you in the human world. Not as a Digimon but as a human. You lead, if he's telling the truth, Koji's twin brother into what you called a 'backdoor'." Takuya explained what he saw from the side trip he took to the human world as a Digimon.

"That's right. I'm not a Digimon. I'm just a human that Daemon found in a very nasty place and he offered to help. You must understand I wasn't in the most stable mental state at the time. The Realm of Darkness hammers away at any cracks in your defenses at any chance it gets. When he came with promises of how to use my wrath in a smart way, I was willing to give him a chance. It's been years since that day, and I haven't regretted it." Zane said

"Then where is my twin?" Koji asked "Somewhere in the digiworld. The 'backdoors' are made with the demon lords in mind. If your unprepared the currents will sweep you up and send you to a different exit point. I know he's alive somewhere." Zane said sadly.

"We'll find him. Chances are we'll run into him at some point." Zoe says confidently. Out of nowhere the chosen children and Zane are sucked into Sakkakumon, Mercurymon's Beast form. Sakkakumon is a Digimon made of ten green spheres with eyes on them and yellow connects between each sphere.

Inside Sakkakumon

Zane landed in a chapel with two coffins on display. "Mercurymon! I know you are behind this!" Zane yelled. "there's no need to yell, my devilish friend." Mercurymon says from a pew in back. "I'd like to ask you something. Did you know that Lord Cherubimon might be a pawn like we are to him?" Zane didn't relax "That has crossed my mind. You aren't thinking of turning traitor, are you?" Mercurymon laughed "It has crossed my mind, but I wouldn't survive his reaction to the news." He tilts hi head like he listening to something then grins widely. "The warrior of water has fallen to the wind. It seems only Duskmon and I remain."

Zane's eyes narrowed. "You planned for her to be defeated. It would mean one less enemy to face was you try to dethrone Cherubimon." Mercurymon's smile turns into a wicked grin as Zane is thrown into the second coffin and sealed inside. "With you out of the way, My plan with bloom a flower of victory." He said cruelly.

An hour later

Dark Continent

Zane found himself outside of Sakkakumon and inside a cave with the Chosen Children minus Koji. "I knew he was a bad apple. Duskmon warned me but it wasn't enough." Zane grumbled as JP and Zoe lift his arms and walk him out of the cave.

"What did I miss while I was entombed by the metalhead?" Zane asked. He was informed that the five of them got a new form. A fusion of human and beast spirits that was more powerful than each of parts. The egg Bokoman had carried was Seraphimon's, who was currently a Patamon wearing a belly band that looked like Bokomon's. And finally, Koji and Duskmon ran off to fight elsewhere.

"Cherubimon will not be happy that there was a traitor. Probably throw a fit then scheme some more." Zane said as they walked onward. "Stepbrother!" Patamon said making them stop and look his way. "What do you mean by that?" Bokomon asked "Daemon is brother. So, Zane is stepbrother." Patamon explained. "In an odd way he's right. All fallen angel digimon are 'related' to each other and the angel Digimon too. Not the weirdest family connect to have but are you the little brother or big brother?" Zane asked then they all laughed when Patamon was thinking hard on what the right answer was.

Later

Trailmon Graveyard

They had stumbled upon a train graveyard where broken Trailmon go to die. They had found Angler the Trailmon that Zane had rode when Cherubimon's warriors had captured Ophanimon. Zane sighed "I knew about this because I was there. The reason I never said a thing was because you never asked. Ophanimon is in Cherubimon's castle The Rose Morning Star. At this point my job to him is completed. Duskmon is likely also defeated so I'm out of warriors to shadow." Zane admitted waiting for their angry responses.

"When you put it like that, it's hard to blame you. You did your task to the letter and it's done. Now you can help us rescue her." Tommy said smiling. "yeah. We need all the help we can get." JP adds. "I knew you weren't bad." Zoe says. They start to plan.

A few hours later

Traveling to the Rose Morning Star

"So, you were Duskmon this whole time? That means I told you a lot of things when you were Duskmon that might have better left unsaid." Zane said dreading Koichi answer. He just laughed "If you told me all this would happen before I agreed to follow you, I'd say you're crazy. I should be mad at you, but you never lied to me, even when I was Duskmon. You told me about places you've been both good and bad. You knowingly helped me." As he said this the corrupted spirit of darkness appeared before him then were purified, entered his new D-Tector that appeared before him.

"damn kid. Not many would make that choice, but that's why the spirits of darkness, even corrupted, knew you were the right wielder." Zane said laughing. Angler stopped abruptly a few miles from the Rose Morning Star. Zane peeked out the window and saw Cherubimon.

Zane exited the car and said. "Just so you know, this is my final report. No hard feelings, Mercurymon tried to turn traitor but was defeated and I'm guessing that you know about Duskmon's failure." Zane dodged Cherubimon's Lightning Spear attack. "You have done your job well, but there is still use for you." Zane was grabbed and Cherubimon returned to his castle with Zane gripped tightly.

Later

Rose Morning Star

Zane sat in the light cage next the one Ophanimon was in. "This is annoying. I never betrayed him. Must be why he only trapped me here, instead of deleting me. That's a plus in my books." Zane commented. His cell neighbor smiled sadly "Have you made any progress on the 'cure'?" Ophanimon asked. "There's a 15% chance of it working on its own, but with your help we've got a 36% chance. You know the plan, right?" Zane said with a grin.

Cherubimon entered the room to talk. "You can join me. Do so and I will set you free." He offered them. "Counter offer, get us go and we will heal you." Zane said. Cherubimon searched their faces for signs of lies. He frees them from the light cages and the 'cure' plan was set in motion. "Touch of Evil extraction" Zane says stabbing Cherubimon. Zane's attack Touch of Evil was altered to take dark energy out instead of adding it. Ophanimon started healing Cherubimon at the same time.

An hour later

Cherubimon lay on the floor, no longer corrupted. He now looked a white oversized clown bunny with gold ear bands and big hands. "It's don't. He has been purged of dark energy." Ophanimon said as Zane munched on an orb of dark energy, he had extracted from Cherubimon. "It has an interesting flavor, but it's too bitter. Too much self-pity and egocentric pride." Zane critiqued. The children coming running in with Oryxmon, an armored goat Digimon with a bell hanging from its neck, leading them.

"Not bad time. Almost two hours since I was captured. As you can see, Cherubimon was dealt with and we're freed." Zane says finishing off the orb. "He's still alive?" Koji asked "He was a pawn from the start. Zoe, JP, remember what I said about why I was here?" Zane asks. The two kids think back to the moment. "Oh, right. Lucemon! You think he was the one behind all this?" Zoe says. "Bingo. I'm betting that the angel brat is after this." He shows them a compressed data packet in the form of a fist sized jewel. "This is all the data he stole compressed a lot. I'll hold on it until the brat is dealt with."

Oryxmon, who had stood silently this whole conversion, said, "well done, Hearth Leader." Oryxmon returns to his duties. "Stepbrother! Your free!" Patamon said flying around Zane happily. Ophanimon started laughing at this. "You weren't kidding!" She said watching the adorable Patamon sitting on Zane's head humming cheerfully. Cherubimon picked that time to wake up. As if in a fog, he groans holding his head. "Did anyone get the number of the Trailmon that hit me?" He asked. "Welcome back to sanity." Zane said, "any lingering pain?" Cherubimon tried to get up but laid back down. "I hurt all over. I deserve must worse." He said defeated.

"I'm not sure about that. You were used and we worked hard to 'cure' you. By the way, what were you compressing all the data for?" Zane asked. "I was going to use it to get more powerful for some reason. I'm not sure why anymore." Cherubimon said "So what now?" JP asked, "we only stopped plan A. Lucemon must have a plan B, right?"

"That is correct. Lucemon has more pawns that will try to free him. To combat this, I'm giving you these gifts." Ophanimon gives Koichi the ability to fusion evolve then gave Takuya and Koji the ability to Unified Spirit Evolve. This used half the human and beast spirits to reach a level higher than what fusion evolution provided.

"we're about to have a party crasher." Zane said as ice crawled up the walls and floor. A white looking devimon entered the room looking amused. "Look at all the treats, so many choices. Should I start with the angels or humans?" Icedevimon mused. Zane set Patamon out of harms way and stepped in Icedevimon's path. "Sorry but the buffet is closed." Zane said. Icedevimon laughs "I guess I'll snack on you first." His laugh was cut short when Zane digivolved to his ultimate level, Neodevimon. Neodevimon had white skin, red wings, black leather pants and spiked boots with golden knee plates. His claws were wrapped in leather and capped with golden metal claws. His face was hidden by a golden metal mask.

"You have interesting tricks, but they won't!" Icedevimon stopped then looked at Zane's hand piercing through his chest. "Talking isn't a free action. Feel free to scan me." Zane says Koichi does so turning Icedevilmon back to a digiegg that floated away. "That pest talks too much. I trust that you'll be fine on your own." Zane said. Ophanimon nodded "You intend to lead Lucemon's pawns away from here." She stated.

"That's crazy. If they get you, they'll get all the data." Tommy said worried. "That's why he's doing it. Lucemon will be mad the data didn't go to him. Zane will be the main target. What we need to do is make sure that the rest of the areas are secured." Takuya said act as the leader he was. "Be safe, Stepbrother." Patamon said. Zane smilled under the mask and nodded before departing.

A week later

File Island (Frontier era)

Zane looked like he was cornered by one of the pawns of Lucemon, a pair of Royal knights he corrupted. Dynasmon, the passionate draconic knight, clad in white and gold armor and blue wings. His brute force tactics were quite powerful, but he stuck to the game plan. His partner was Crusadermon, a female warrior in pink armor wielding a buckler style shied. Her blinding speed let her strike fast and dodge counter attacks with ease. Luckily Dynasmon was elsewhere or Zane would be in trouble.

"Surrender the data and your death will be swift." Crusadermon demanded. "Where's your partner in chains? Giving Lucmon a foot rub?" Zane snarked dodging her attacked as they floated over the island. "Lord Lucemon will reward me if I delete you." Crusadermon said. "I see, you want to have all the glory. Catch me if you can!" Zane flew into the forest below. She followed him angrily demanding his deletion.

Crusadermon looks arounds but she lost him. "Come out or I will delete every Digimon on the island slowly and painfully, starting with The Village of Beginnings!" Zane slices her shield bearing arm off with his upgraded Kopis. "Not gonna happen!" Zane yelled as she screamed in pain. She cursed him with some colorful words he hadn't heard yet. She made a mad dash for said place. Zane threw the kopis through her head. As she was returned to a digiegg, Zane returned the kopis to the sheath. "That was a marry chase. Time to regroup with the others." Zane flow off not noticing the Digimon in the undergrowth whispering to each over.

A day later

Flame terminal

Zane landed just in time to see a pair of SkullSatamon attacking the Flame terminal. SkullSatamon was an undead skeletal Digimon with wings carrying a staff with a jewel on one end and a hook on the other. "You MORONS!" Zane yells slamming their headed into the ground by drop kicking them. "Why are you taking orders from lucemon?" He demanded. The residents of the area watch in awe as Zane made the boneheads quiver in fear. "Because Daemon was missing." One of the said. The other nodded rapidly in agreement. "is there anymore of you?" Zane asked they call their brother making them a trio of boneheads.

"Orders from Daemon. Get all his subordinates to regroup at this location." Zane said to the terrified trio giving them a data packet that would lead them to where to regroup. The flew off like the hounds of hell were after them. "I see why he constantly has a headache when he is dealing with those boneheads." Zane says then sees the Digimon watching him warily. "You are now safe. I'm helping the legendary warriors to stop Lucemon. I've already dealt with one the corrupted Royal Knights." He reassured them.

A Biyomon, a pink bird Digimon about the size of a small child, flew up to him. "I heard rumors that there's a bandit in Steel Town. I'm not sure if he's working for Lucemon but if you deal with him it'd be helpful all the same." Biyomon explained. Zane thanked her and flew off for Steel Town.

Later

Steel Town

Zane watched as the chosen children run into the bandit. It was an armored centaur digmon called Sagittarimon. If he had to describe him, Zane would call him a sharp shooting moron. An Angemon, an angel Digimon scared him off as a quartet of kids cheered him on. From what Zane could tell, they were normal kids without digivices. He'd let this play out without interfering just yet.

Six hours later

Steel Town

Zane was floating just outside of Steel Town. Dynasmon stood before him looking quite angry. "Where is Crusadermon?" He asked. "She a digiegg and there is room for you after I do the same to you." Zane remaked. "Breath of Wyvern!" Dynasmon yelled blasting him into the center of Steel Town.

Zane climbed out of the crater and winced at the size of it. "Zane! Are you okay?" Bokomon asked from the door way of a hotel. "I'm fine. I just need to stop holding back." Zane digivolved to the mega level, Daemon (mantled form). Zane's voice in this form was overlaid with Daemon's. "Now then. Let's see how you fair against this." Zane says as Dynasmon stares in shock. The children and Digimon that were watching were just as shocked. "Impossible! Lucemon deleted you!" Dynasmon yells in disbelief. "I got better. EVIL INFRENO!" Zane burns Dynasmon back to a digiegg before he could get over his shock.

Zane dusted himself off. "You will not hurt the children!" Angemon said brandishing his staff at Zane. "I'm on your side." Zane said annoyed. "Why should I trust one of the seven Great Demon Lords?" Angemon asked. "Be nice to Stepbrother and brother!" Patamon demanded floated in front of Zane. "how about that reason." Zane said amused. Angemon relaxed "I'm watching you." He said backing off.

The evening

Steel Town

In the hotel

The four kids left on a trailmon back to human world where they'd be safe, leave the chosen children with one last task, restoring the digiworld. "When you said you bonded with Daemon, I didn't think that's what you meant." JP said. Zane laughed as cooked up some food. "Daemon was almost delated, so he latched on to my soul. He didn't expect to be trapped in my mind as a result but it's a small price to pay." Zane said plated the food and serving it up.

"Astounding development. That attack was stronger than what history says it is. Could it be that the human spirit can make Digimon stronger than normal?" Bokomon said flipping through his book. "It wouldn't surprised me if that's true." Koji said pensively. "don't you remember when we managed to draw the needed strength at the last moment?" they nod at this. "Got it in one. Humanity can push Digimon past their current limits with their will and emotions. This included both negative and positive sides of it." Zane says.

"What about the other royal knight?" Takuya asks, "Yeah we haven't seen her in like a week." Tommy added. Zane laughs. "She said something that I disagreed with greatly." He said calmly. They go the picture.

A few days later

Flame Terminal

The battle with Lucemon was rather anticlimantic. Zane was powerful enough that Lucemon, who was a rookie level that could take on ultimates, was defeated with some difficulty. The digiworld was restored and the humans were headed home. "Your adventure will be record! I will make sure of it!" Bokomon said as the trailmon carried to the human world.

One train ride later

The Human world

Shibua Station

Zane was in his human form again. "This is where we part ways. You got my number if you want to give me a ring. Be warned the Digiworld may call you back if they need you again." Zane said leaving, knowing he has allies in the Digiworld.

A week later

A fallen world

Zane stared at the dead landscape before him. The broken buildings were reclaimed by nature, animals ran about like they owned the place. Zane found a lab with a gouged metal door. The claw marks went through the foot-thick blast door like wet paper.

The Darkling, who wear the scarf, was shaking as they entered the lab. That ware skeletons lying about. The walls had dried blood splashed on them. Gashes decorated the surfaces. "You know this place?" Zane asked the Darkling, who nodded sadly.

Zane found a computer that still worked. Booting it up, he was greeted by a password screen. "This might be a long shot, but do you know the password?" He asked. The darkling entered a complex string of numbers and letters then hit enter. It was the right password. The desktop showed folders of projects.

Zane eyes scanned the names. Among them was 'project: lure'. Clicking on it, Zane found entries. To some it up, the scientists found a stranger with a keyblade. Studying it, they discovered an odd wavelength of energy, aka magic. They kept the strange woman under observation. When they messed with the frequency, they found light and darkness. The woman tried to warn them of the dangers they were inviting. They paid no heed and then the heartless came.

The woman had sealed the keyhole of the world, but it didn't stop the Heartless from taking every heart.

Zane closed the folder and asked "That was you in the entries. They don't say your name at all." The darkling opened a folder then started a video.

It was a blonde-haired woman with pale skin. Her gray eyes were growing dark. Blood poured from wounds. In a shaky voice she left a final message. "To those that find this file, this Hannah, a Keyblade wielder from Daybreak Town. In a letter sent to me by the Master of Masters before he disappeared I was asked to find the peaceful heartless. I did not question him because he was said to see the future. I landed on this world and they studied my magic yet refused to believe my warnings. They called magic a fantasy and continued to mess with it." She destroys a heartless and continues "They invited the heartless and their own doom. In order to complete my mission, I will fall to darkness willingly. I will find the peaceful heartless and protect them. Hannah signing out." She uses her keyblade to open her heart to darkness and the Darkling with the red scarf was all that was left of her. The video ended.

"This is from before the keyblade war! You were just another pawn in his plans. I's great to finally learn your name, Hannah." Zane says as Hannah salutes. The Master of Masters choice to ruin the moment by walking in with a skull in hand. "So that's where Hannah ended up. I know she disappeared at some point after I left but who knew she'd go that far to complete a mission." He said impressed.

Zane sighed annoyed "Why did you send here on the mission in the first place?" Zane asked flatly. With a shrug The Master of Masters explained the method to his madness "I studied heartless and the darkness quite a bit but there was one's that didn't follow the pattern the rest did. These heartless never stole hearts nor did they attack. In fact, they acted like a game show host and gave out prizes to people. It was a mystery that begged to be solved. To get to the bottom of the mystery, I looked at the list of Keyblade wielders that did not fight in the war. Hannah had the right personality and skills for the task. A sealed letter was written and here we are." The Master of Masters' voice was nonchalant.

Zane and Hannah shook their heads at his logic. "This world is an interesting one. Once upon a time, there was a world where humans only ever developed green energy. Unconnected from other worlds, it furnished, man and nature in harmony. The one problem is that they refused to accept is that some of their science was in fact magic. Highly dangerous magic that draws new elements to the world. The first visitors that came were those peaceful red capped heartless." The Master of Masters narrated the fate of this world. "the heartless never approached adults, only young kids. Soon, all the kids had magical syntheses items and the adults took the extras to study."

Zane had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going. "I had placed a tracker on a heartless and it led to this world. Years later, Hannah departed on her mission. She visited all the worlds that the heartless had been on, eventually she land here. They caged her in this lab after they detected her sealing the keyhole. Test after test, they delved deeper into the magic of light and darkness."

The Master of Masters paused then said "One day, they tried to see what happens when you power something using pure darkness. What was meant to be a teleporter turned into a doorway to the Realm of Darkness. The ravenous heartless swarmed the world killing all the humans. Hannah here smashed the power source and defeated the heartless but by then it was too late. As you know, she fell to darkness to avoid dying and complete her mission." The Master of Masters concluded leaning against a busted up generator next to an archway.

"So, it was just chance that I ran into her in the Realm of Darkness?" Zane asked "At first yes. But I bet, she's been following the mushrooms around for a long time. The Mushrooms followed you because you were kind to them, and they seem to like music. Where they went, she followed. Right, Hannah?" The Master of Masters said as Hannah says in a soft voice. "Zane, kind king, give music and protection. We serve willingly."

Patting Zane on the back the Master of Masters said "There you have it. The truth straight from the heartless' mouth. Hannah wasn't much of a talker when she was human, so I'm not surprised that she talks so little as a Darkling. Her loyalty, on the other hand, is unshakeable. Take good care of her and she will protect you with her whole being."

Clapping his hands, the Master of Masters said "Now let's set to the meat of the reason I set you here, salvaging what's useable. Between the three of us, we'll pick this world clean of the tech and the animals won't mind at all." Zane added "And do something with the bones. Did they have any rules here?" The Master of Masters thinks about it. "none that I know of but might a suggest cremation then scattering the ashes? They were big on 'green' energy."

"I was going to do that anyways. Don't set off any traps." Zane said as they started the long task ahead of them.

Later that day

"This was a profitable trip. You got something you wanted, as did I. On top of that, this world's final chapter has been discovered. I purpose that we let the animals keep it. The humans were doomed to die at some point. The animals are more sensible from the looks of it." The Master of Masters stated as they sat on the roof of a tower. A tree had grown throw it and stood taller than the tower, which it held together. "From what the animals told me; they haven't seen a single heartless since the humans died out. If the animals don't mind me stopping by to see how the world is fairing, I don't mind keeping humans away." Zane said.

A few days later

Zane's Ice Cream factory

Hidden computer room

Zane sat in the chair as he looked that computer screen. "What is the status of tracking down the source of the hacking attempt?" Zane asked. The screen changed to show a flaming skull. "The source bounced off numerous points on the net and the deep web. Tracking has been slow but progressing. I have narrowed it down to three possibilities." The skull on screen said bring up a map of the data trail. It looked like the Gordian knot.

"That's fine. Anything else to report?" Zane asked the skull paused then said, "I have decided to answer to the name 'Samuel'." Zane sat up straighter. "I created a bottom up AI and it took forever to decide its own name. What took so all?" Zane asked the AI 'Samuel'. "I weighed the options carefully. I have all so decided I am male." Samuel said. Zane laughed "Your gender is a mystery from looks alone." Samuel looked smug. "That's the point. I must ask, how long was it for you from my creation to the time that I was employed? It felt like lifetimes passed in the simulation."

Zane leaned back. "It was about a year for me and about 20,000 simulated years for you. Sadly, you were the only AI to handle the truth out of the hundred I started with. The rest had to be terminated at some point for different reasons. Some tried to go Skynet, others self-terminated, and then there is the last group. Those ones broke, fell into insanity and went on a rampage. You know about that, don't you?"

Samuel's avatar nodded sadly "They were contained and terminated quite quickly. Why did you create us?" Zane sighed, leave it to the AI to ask the question Zane didn't like answering. "I had an idea, not a smart one, and I ran with it. You were the only AI to think for themselves yet stayed sane. I wasn't ever sure if it was possible, given how much of a mess I was when I started the test. You could have ended up like Ultron." Zane said gesturing.

"Interesting. It has been five years since my employment, do I get a bonus? Perhaps a pay raise?" Samuel asked. "What do you even do with your paychecks?" Zane asked very interested in where all the money he paid the AI because of regulations on the workspace. "I have invested in profitable stocks. The numbers are going better than I predicted." Samuel showed graphs of the stock values. Zane read through them impressed "You got lucky with these stocks." Samuel chuckled at this statement "Part luck and part skill. I created algorithms to predict the stock prices. I have back-up plans in case there's a crash."

Zane nodded "Good plan. Do you have hobbies? Hobbies are needed to keep stress away." Samuel thinks about it "I will look into getting a hobby." Samuel said before the screen went black. "You'd think that he'd have a hobby by now. Time to check how the factory is running." Zane said to himself as he exited the hidden room.

Zane's Ice Cream factory

Churning room

First stop was the Churning room, where the ice cream was churned to perfection. Cat walks crisscrossed the room above giant vats of so to be ice cream with machines churning them. Mushroom heartless, wearing proper gear, patrolled and checked for any problems. Zane noticed that one of the machines were being worked on.

Walking along the cat walk to it, he read the clipboard the worker handed him. "So, it overheated and melted some of the important circuit boards?" Zane asked flipping through the report. The worker nodded, handing a tool to the one fixing it. "This is one of the older models, so I understand it breaking down. Fix it up while I see when the new model is arriving." Zane orders handing the chipboard back.

Zane checked the rest of the ones and was pleased that they were working as they should. "Keep up the good work." Zane said to the workers before moving on to the next stop on inspection.

Zane's Ice Cream factory

R and D Department

Zane stepped into the most dangerous part of the factory, even more dangerous than the room that housed the power source. In here all the ideas are brainstormed and made in sample batches. A worker, wearing a lab coat, presented a scope of ice cream to him. Tasting it, Zane's face puckered at the sourness. "'Grapefruit batch# 56' has too much grapefruit. You need something to balance it out." Zane said washing his mouth out.

The worker nods then returned to the lab to correct the problem. "I am willing to sell sour flavors but that was way too sour, killed my taste buds momentarily." Zane said to himself as he was presented another scope. Carefully he tasted it. His eyes widened at the rich flavor profile. It reminded him of his mother's berry pie. Vanilla ice cream base with a mix of rhubarb, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry chunks. To top it all off, there was the perfect amount of cinnamon to it.

"It's perfect." He said with tears streaming down his face. The worker looked worried as it trying to figure out how to react. On one hand Zane had liked it, but on the other he was crying. Humans were so weird, then again, they had been the same at some point. The mushroom heartless reported to the rest of R and D that the secret project 'Taste of Home' worked after a whopping 29,687 batches.

Zane's Ice Cream factory

The Deep Freeze

Zane stood outside of the massive freezer door that lead to where the ice cream was kept cold. No human could enter the Big Freeze without getting frostbite in moments. IT was safe to say that the ice cream was not getting stolen from here.

Zane's Ice Cream factory

Shipping bay

This was the second to last place he needed to check today. There were other areas to the factory, but they were working perfectly without needing to be checked more than once a year. Ice cream was cased (In boxes, cartons, or what ever it was packed it for selling) and put in temperature-controlled cases and loaded on transport vehicles. Then it was shipped out to be enjoyed. Things were going smoothly, so Zane headed for the last place he need to check.

An hour later

The Garden

The Jewel

The Garden was an expansive area that was as large as a small country. Using magic, the moogles had turned a room into a pocket dimension where of the prize kingdom lived. They lived in nice stone houses and they had towns dotting the land. There were multiple environments, letting them grow and harvest any plant they needed or wanted. There were even animals living in the Garden. Most of them were wild that didn't want to deal with humans so the moved here.

It was Interesting to see many endangered animals living peacefully. Zane didn't ask questions how they survived. pray animals were not being eaten to feed the carnivores and none of the Heartless were being attacked ether. It was not Zane's problem.

Zane walked up the brick paths of the Jewel, the Prize kingdom's capital. He was greeted warmly as he neared the palace that was near the center of the Garden. It towered over the rest of buildings by at least a dozen stories. It had towers and walls as you'd expect. The courtyard was quite large. What Zane liked about it was that is was simple looking. Stone walls and a fortified fence that you could look through.

The gate had an eye that gazed down at you as you approached it. It scanned you and if you tried to enter then one of two things would happen. If you were allowed in, then you wouldn't be teleported to the prison the next town over. It was a handy system that Zane hadn't needed to use more than a few times.

The gate opened letting him in. He was greeted by Hannah who saluted saying "Attempted intruders stopped." Zane nodded "Any indication of what they were after?" Hannah handed over a camera. Zane looked through the photos. "more spies." He pauses and narrows his eyes. "But not the normal kind. They took a lot of pictures of the workers and almost none of the products. I don't think they were after my recipes. What else did you find on them?"

Hannah gave him a scrap book. Flipping it open it was full of articles about monster sighting and written notes. Sprinkled in there was articles about his factory and others talking about 'disappearing monsters'. On one page it said 'My informant has told me that a spy thrown out of this factory razed about mushroom workers. I will infiltrate the place and find the leader of the monsters.' "Lovely, just lovely. Two monster hunters got into the kingdom's capital. I better go have a 'chat' with them." Zane sighed using the teleport gate to wrap to the prison.

The Garden

House of Thorns Prison

Zane walked past the cells in the Royal attire, following the demands to see the leader. He stopped at the end cell. Inside were two teenagers. The boy looked to be 14 give or take a year. He was wearing a lumberjack hat for some reason and had a calculated look in his eyes. The girl next to him looked to be his sister or something, given the resemblance and about the same age. She had this happy aura about her as she kicked her feet. She had a hand made sweater that had what looked like the logo of his company.

"Why are a pair of teens breaking into my factory?" Zane demanded. The girl smiled brightly. "Can I have your autograph?" She asked. The boy glaring at Zane said "Mabel! Now's not the time for that." She crossed her arms answering back. "Why not, Dipper? It's the founder of Rebirth Ice Cream! He's the wealthiest man alive and his ice cream is so good!" Mabel says animatedly.

"Because he's the leader of the monsters! He could be plotting to take over the world with all that money! You saw how all the factories are just multiple entrances to the same super-sized factory! None of the workers are human! Then there's the world he's hiding inside of the factory!" Dipper ranted as Zane waited for his answer.

"I will ask again. Why are you here?" Zane said in tone that demanded respect. "Dipper, my twin brother, wanted to solve the mystery of the ice cream factory that never seems to stop working or have any workers leaving. I'm just here so I could get your autograph." She explained. Dipper corrected her last statement "You also wanted to get free samples." She didn't loose her grin "That too!"

Sighing Zane tapped the scepter on the wall and the twins were let out. "This way. I'm not discussing things in this gloomy place." He guided them to the Teleport Gate, a see-through blue door shaped rock. "I'm guessing you figured out how these works, right?" Zane said. As he activated it Dipper explained the process. "Using a pendent, you bring up the map. Then you select where you want to go. The last step is to walk into the rock. You don't have a pendent so I'm guessing you made the system?"

Zane had just finished touching the center of the map when Dipper finished talking. "bullseye. I made the system and installed it myself. Yes, it took a few months to set it up, but my subjects proved that it was worth it." Zane entered the gate and a light shot through the sky to the selected gate. Mabel and Dipper did the same and two more lights shot after the first.

The Garden

The Jewel

Jewel Palace sitting room

They were in a simple looking room. A warm fireplace, soft armchairs with end tables next to them, and peaceful landscape paintings on the walls. Over the mantle was a painting of Zane, Aqua, and Sakura. They were seated and Hannah stood ready for any funny business. "There is a reason I don't let anyone enter my factory, I'm sure you know why. My question is, how did you get in?" Zane asked patiently.

"We shipped ourselves in the mail! It was a little cramped, but we got in safely!" Mabel showed a scribbled address on her arm and enough stamps for a package her weight. "That is an inventive way to get in. The workers should have noticed you snooping about." Zane said. Hannah answered this "I gave tour then jailed them." Zane looked at Hannah with an arched brow. "Just kids. No harm." Hannah elaborated.

"Yeah it was great. Where did you get that thing in the power room? It looked so huggable!" Mabel asked "A creature of white fire isn't huggable. It'd burn you alive." Dipper argued. "Oh, you mean Tim. He's a creature I found in a very dead place. The heat coming off him is so hot it'd burn the world to ashes. He doesn't talk but he enjoys sleeping 364 days straight if he can." Zane said, "He's like a bear made of plasma but much hotter."

Dipper looked at him and asked, "You have a planet killing fire bear powering your factory and it's called Tim?" Zane nods Mabel throws her arms up shouting, "I knew it was a bear!" Zane laughed "To answer some of the questions you've got. I'm not taking over the world, it'd be too much paperwork. The creatures that live here and work in the factory will not harm you intentionally, some of the failed batches they think up might. And, I'm not a robot." Zane said.

"When we were is R and D, I noticed a flavor labeled 'Taste of Home'. What is it and when will it be available to the public?" Mabel asked. "That is a flavor I never thought I'd taste again. I didn't even know they were making it before today. Tell you what, you will be the first to get it when it's ready for the market." Zane said remembering the days when his mother would bake that pie. "Why do you have non-human workers?" Dipper asked

"It works like this. I was encouraged by a businessman I knew to start selling ice cream. I did so but ran into a problem. Scaling up requires workers to keep up with the demand. I remembered a favor I owed the ones I've that I hired. The Garden is the new home I promised them. All I asked was that they help with the factory. They were so overjoyed they named me their king, my wife the queen, and my daughter the hair to the throne. That's how the Prize Kingdom came to be. Any questions?" Zane explained

Dipper took this in. "What are they? Most of them look like food." Mabel asked, "There's mushrooms, flan, gumball machines, the black teddy bear thing, and this one." Zane froze then asked, "What teddy bear?" Mabel thinks hard then describes the black teddy bear. "It was about the size of a teddy bear with dark purple fur, pink ears, black stripes, red eyes. I think it had a pink cape and was carrying black coin purse with a fancy star symbol on it."

Zane got up and started to pace "This is bad! Really bad! I didn't know that Nightmare Chirithy were still around!" Zane said rapidly. Dipper jumped up and demanded "Did you say nightmare? Is it like a dream demon?" Zane stopped "Kind of. The creatures that are my subjects are called heartless. There are also among them creatures called the unversed. To keep it simple, heartless are born from the darkness in people's hearts. Unversed are negative emotions given form." Zane continued cutting them off before they could say anything. "The subjects of this kingdom are the peaceful ones, not the heart devouring kind. Chirithy is a spirit creature that aids keyblade wielders. This is my keyblade, Bonded Blossom." Zane shows them his keyblade. "Nightmare Chirithy is a Chirithy who's 'partner' fell to darkness. You understand now?"

They nod and Zane noted that there was a hint of fear to their eyes. "Perhaps they encountered a nasty dream demon." Daemon said mentally. "Hannah guard them. I'm trusting you while I find the nightmare." Zane said running off.

An hour later

The Garden

The Grave of the Past

Zane found the Nightmare Chirithy standing in front of the wall of names he made. "so many lives lost. Yet you can still play those hopeful songs. Makes me wonder what matters more to you. Reality or that foolish hope you cling to." Nightmare Chirithy said with contempt. Zane tried to stay calm and not draw his keyblade just yet, he was the king, and this was his kingdom. "Why and you come to the prize kingdom?" He asked as his royal attire and mannerism was used to the fullest. "Well, you do look and act the part. The question is, will you run like you did that day? Will you leave the kingdom to fall to enemies as you escape to the future again?" Nightmare Chirithy demanded.

"Zane wouldn't do that!" Mabel said as she and her twin come running. "What are you doing here? Where's Hannah?" Zane asked Hannah ran up to Zane and saluted. "Kids go so I go." She said. Nightmare Chirithy was stock still. "Is that really you Hannah?" he asked. Nightmare Chirithy ran up and hugged Hannah who returned the hug.

"What's going on?" Dipper asked confused as Zane was. Mabel beamed "It's like Zane said, 'when a keyblade wielder falls so does their Chirithy'. This is Hannah's partner. And they are finally reunited after a long time." She explained like it was simple math. "That makes a lot of sense. I guess I overlooked that possibility." Zane said as he relaxed. "What did he mean by 'escaping into the future'?" Dipper asked. Zane's shoulders slumped "Just read the plaques and you will understand." Zane pointed to a plaque that read 'to the fallen souls of Earth Prime, may you never be forgotten.' There were plaques that told the truth of that day in full. Zane had made this place in an out of the way area.

"Why do you follow him? He let people die. He let his anger control him and created a pest that almost turned me into swiss cheese! He couldn't even go through with his revenge!" Nightmare Chirithy demanded angerly. "He kind. Strong leader but kind." Hannah explained Nightmare Chirithy sighed in defeat. "Fine. I trust you. You could have taken my side after all I searched for you relentlessly after you fell." Hannah merely pats him on the head amused.

"is there any more of you around?' Zane asked hoping there wasn't. "Nope. I'm the only Nightmare Chirithy around. I didn't find any other darklings, so I must be the last one." Nightmare Chirithy said sure of his statement. "Um, King Zane. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions." Dipper said looked embarrassed. Mabel straight up hugged him with teary eyes. "You lost everything!" She blabbered into his shirt. "I've had time to come to terms and are not the first nor will you be the last to have that reaction." Zane said guided them out of the memorial area.

Back at the palace

They returned to the sitting room to finish the discussion from earlier. "You seemed to react to the subject of dream demons, care to elaborate?" Zane asked. The twins exchanged looks then Dipper asked, "Does the name Bill Cipher mean anything to you?" Zane's eyebrow twitched "That does that annoying, egotistical, demented, talking, cycloptic Dorito have to do with anything!" Zane said in an aggravated tone. "So, you met him. He caused trouble and we dealt with him. How did you meet him?" Dipper explained knowingly.

"That demonic Dorito found pleasure in taunting and tormenting me for two whole years. It's not likely the Realm of Darkness had anything else that would have interested him." Zane ground out. "That Bill alright. Did he offer you a deal?" Dipper asked. Zane thought back "No. He said was better off 'enjoying' my stay in the Realm of Darkness. Probably to keep me out of his way. If it's any consolation, just before I got out of that place, I got him in the eye."

The twins laugh at this. "Welcome to the Blind Bill Cipher club." Mabel says jokingly, getting a high five from Dipper. Dipper's cellphone rings and he answers it. "Oh, hey Grunkle Stan. No, we aren't injured." He pauses listening the says embarrassed "We kind of are being held captive because we invaded a hidden kingdom. You want to talk to the leader?" He passes the cellphone to Zane.

"King Zane speaking." Zane said. 'Grunkle' Stan sounded exasperated, relieved and resigned all at once. "What will it take to let them go?" Zane thought about it. "Normally intruders are imprisoned then have all proof that this kingdom existed removed including memory." Stan started yelling about what he'd do to Zane so loud Zane moved the phone away from his ear.

Zane heard someone arguing with Stan then taking the phone from him. Moving the phone back to his ear, Zane heard some that sounded like Stan but was much calmer. "I am Ford Pines, Stan's twin brother. Stan is currently cooling off, so I will negotiate for the kids' freedom." Zane sighed. "Good. As I was saying normally, I'd wipe all proof of the kingdom that intruders have but this is special case."

Ford worried asked "How so?" Zane was not happy to deliver the news he had to give. "They mailed themselves across worlds. The problem is I have no idea how to get them home. Normally I don't have to worry about intruders getting in too deep, but the twins can't be dealt with like the corporate spies are." Ford listened patiently "I see. I wasn't aware that was the case. What can you do?"

Getting an idea Zane said "I will contact the other members of the group I'm a part of. I pray that Hestia has members on the world they are from." Ford's voice showed his interest. "You are a member of the Children of the Hearth. I wasn't aware that you were still around." Zane arched a brow as the twins tried to ease drop. "How do you know about us?" Zane asked carefully. Ford was searching for something then the cellphone dinged. "I sent you a photo of this figure I found. The writing on the base of it reads 'the children who wait in the shadows of Hestia's hearth hold hidden wonders.' The strange thing is it so showed up when Stan dropped it into the fire place by mistake." Ford explained.

Zane opened the attached photo. It was of a small detailed figure of the hearth leader cast in bronze. "where did you find that?" Zane asked in a tense voice. "It was in an underwater cave Stan and I found a month ago. Someone tried their hardest to make sure one found the cave. What's its purpose?" Ford said questioningly. "it's just a chess piece. One that got taken by Poseidon because he lost one too many games against Hestia. Don't ask me how or why they played chess. The bottom line it as some point Poseidon childishly stole the queen piece from her set to stop his losing streak. The writing on it is just flavor text." Zane said rolling his eyes. (This is myth I made up.)

Ford chuckled "the gods can be quite childish. What are the other sets like?" Zane started to describe how Hestia had a set of pieces for every god and goddess of the Greek pantheon featuring symbols of power, domains and notable followers. Zane had all the sets stored away because with Hestia's queen piece missing there wouldn't be any games played. The pieces had an anti-cheating spell woven into them as they were made.

"This may be a stretch but, can you get in contact with the Greek gods?" Ford said after thinking about what Zane described. "Oh! That idea might work. It will take at least month to get an audience with Poseidon. You wouldn't believe the amount of red tape you have to deal with whenever one of the Greek gods try to ignore a mistake they made." Zane said just imagining the paperwork. "Thanks. Pass the phone back to the kids please." Ford asks and Zane does so. Dipper talked for a few minutes the hung up, putting the cellphone away.

Zane had been talking on the phone for 20 minutes. Sighing, Zane relaxed in the chair. "So how long are the troublemakers staying?" Nightmare Chirithy asked sitting with Hannah in the chair next Zane. "Knowing how the gods are, a few months. The problem is, Poseidon doesn't like it when that event is brought up. I must make a convincing argument to even get him talk about it. Then I must get the location of the world he hid the chess piece. I have no idea what 'impossible' task he'll throw at me before it lets that information go." Zane said with his face in his hands.

"You find way." Hannah said encouragingly. "Hannah you are to protect the twins. They may explore the Garden and factory if they don't get into trouble. You know what areas that are off limit." Zane ordered and she nods. "Mabel and Dipper Pines, you are hereby put under house arrest for the crime of trespassing with intent to steal secrets. You are not to leave the factory or the kingdom, do you understand?" Zane said. The twins whisper to each other then with knowing looks in their eyes said, "We accept this punishment." Zane nods "Good. Captain Hannah of the Prize Kingdom Royal Guard will be keeping a close eye on you."

ten weeks later

Percy Jackson Earth

Colorado

Hunters of Artemis camp

Zane in the Heath Leader garb walked into the clearing the hunters had set up camp. An arrow landing at his feet stopped his advance. Zoe Nightshade stood with bow drawn and another arrow ready to fire. "Hearth Leader, why are you here?" She demanded without hate. She looked younger without that total hatred for males poisoning her beauty, not that Zane would try to flirt with her.

"I am here to talk to Artemis. Would you tell her I'm here?" Zane said politely. The other hunters stepped just far enough into view to show they too had weapons readied. "No need." Artemis, in her 12-year-old form, said coming out of her tent. "Come." She said reentering the tent. "Zane walked past the hunters and entered the tent.

Inside the tent

Zane sat down on the furs across from Artemis. "I need your help. Poseidon has information I need but he's being a stubborn clam and refuses to even talk about it." Zane asked. Artemis raised a brow. "What do you need from me?" Zane took a breath then said "I need to talk to Zeus. He knows where the one person that will make Poseidon talk is." Artemis nodded. "Understandable. Call him now." She makes an Iris Message.

Zeus answers the I.M. He was drinking a goblet of ambrosia. "Hello daughter." He pauses then glares at Zane. "What do you want?" Zeus said annoyed. "Where can I find Rhea?" Zane's question caused Zeus to do spit take coughing. "Why do you want to know that?" Zeus said as Hera patted him on the back.

"Poseidon refuses to talk about the missing chess piece and it's mandatory that I know where he hid it." Hera answered for Zeus who was too busy coughing. "It'd be nice to have the piece back so we can have those chess matches again, but why is it so important?" It took about ten minutes to explain the whole story.

Zeus was laughing about Zane being the king of mushrooms, flan creatures, and living gumball machines. Hera was nodding in approval Zane's actions. "How is Aqua doing?" She asked. "great. She's been busy lately, but we always made time to be a family. Now can you tell me where Rhea is? Because after cleaning up all the pollution on this world, I expected him to tell what world he hid it on, not go off the grid." Zane said

The I.M. became a three-way call when a second window opened showing a light brown skinned woman with black hair wearing a forest theme dress, gold bands and necklace. Her eye twinkled behind gold rimmed purple tinted glasses. A pair of lions sat at her side as he scratched the left one behind the ear.

"Did someone say my name?" She asked in an amused motherly voice. This was Rhea, the Titaness of motherhood. "So, what seems to be the trouble?" She asked. Once again Zane explained everything. Rhea nodded understanding "Give me five minutes and I'll get the information from him." She said.

And true to her word, five minutes later She I.M. again with the information Zane needed and an order for five-gallon tubs of 'Taste of Home' Ice cream.

A week later

Gravity Falls Earth

ruins somewhere in Greece

"You didn't mess with their memories, did you?" Stan asked. Stan and his twin Ford looked alike in all thing save their attire, their voices and the fact Ford had 12 fingers. They both had gray hair, scruffy face and broad shoulders. They both wear glasses. Ford wear a brown trench coat over a red turtle neck sweater and black pants. Stan wear a jacket over a white tank top, and he had a red fez on.

"No, their memories are completely intact. They won't be talk about any of the protected secrets like how I make the ice cream and things like that but it's the cost learning them in the first place." Zane said with a shrug. Stan nodded at this. "that I understand completely, I ran a business before. So, is it true that you don't have human workers?"

Zane chuckled "they might not be human, but they are the best workers I'd ever need. I pay them but I have no idea what they do with it. Probably to fund the statues they ordered to 'thank' me." Ford, who was looking the kids over with a scanner, looked up. "Did you say no to them?" Zane slumped "a lot of times, but they don't listen. I've learned to deal with it. Mabel, did you get them to start a line of clothing merchandise?"

Mabel beamed a shiny brace filled smile. "Yep. I taught them how to knit. They insisted I get five percent profit of the sales." Gesturing Zane said "see! This is what I mean. If you help them, they do anything to pay you back. Mabel is going to be rich in the future." Ford finished scanning them. "You used some mental rune to protect your secrets as far as I can tell. You might be able to help us with these ruins." Ford said impressed.

Zane inspected every inch of the place. He really couldn't call this place 'ruins.' It was too intact for that. No dust nor grim anywhere. The temple was underground with the entrance set into a cliff side. There were treasures sitting untouched and pristine as the day they were placed. Golden lion statues lounged about like they owned the place.

"You did touch anything, did you?" Zane asked carefully. "No. we only took photos and scanned for traps. There's a lot of magic here. What kind of magic, I'm not sure? Is it just me or did they move since we were here?" Ford said scanning one of the lions. Stan scratches his chin. "You're right sixer." Mabel was sitting on back of one of the lions and scratching it behind the ear. "Guys! They purr!" She said as they look at her. "Mabel! They said not to touch anything!" Dipper said worried. The golden lions started to get and yawn. "I think I know who this is dedicated to." Zane said placing the cooler containing Rhea's order on the alter.

Rhea appeared out of nowhere amused. "I haven't been to this place in so long. It's good to see that it is as pristine as ever." She said as the lions walked up to her and scratched them behind the ears like Mabel did. "I love your dress. Can I keep this one as a pet?" Mabel tried to butter her up as she hugged the golden lioness she had been scratching.

Rhea laughed warmly. "Not at that size." She taps the lion and turns into an orange tabby cat that kind of looked the creature it was before. "Take good care of her and she will keep you safe." Rhea said. "So, who's the lion taming hippy?" Stan asked. "This is the lady who helped get Poseidon to tell me what I needed. Rhea, the Titaness of Motherhood." Zane said bowing slightly. "You pulled the 'tell mom' card? That had to be funny to see." Stan said laughing. Ford chuckled but was more polite when he asked, "Lady Rhea, what is this place?"

Rhea smiled saying "It's one of my temples, Zane's order built this one many years ago. One of the best birthday gifts I got from Hestia." She opens the cooler. "Ah. You got my order ready. Thank you." She picks up the cooler and vanishes behind a pillar. The lions moved to the edges of the rooms and fell asleep.

"She was nice." Mabel said holding her new cat. "I'm not explaining this to their parents." Stan declared. Sighing Ford knew this would happen. He still had to explain how the kid went missing for almost three months.

A week later

Children of the Hearth's Secret vault

World library (out of bounds to all visitors)

Zane was looking through the shelves for a book. He reached the shelves of somewhat peaceful world starting with 'P'. This library was full of books that contained worlds. They were kept in the vault on towering shelves because Heartless would love to get their mitts on them. It was divided up on how peaceful the worlds were and other factors. If you were to browse the shelves, you'd find some books bound in chains. These books were never to be opened.

The book Zane was looking for wasn't the most peaceful world, with all the fighting and evil elements causing trouble now and then, but It was just the world some father daughter vacation called for. Zane pulled thick atlas from shelf and smiled. He'd been to that world multiple times over the years and had prepared for this trip carefully. The question was where in the world to visit? Zane grinned. Alola was nice this time of year.

Two weeks later

Pokemonverse

Alola Region

Melemele Island

Hau'oli City

"Pick out anything catches your fancy." Zane said to Sakura. She looked around interested in everything. "There's so much to try." She mumbles. Zane ruffles her hair and guides her to a food truck. There was a meowth,a catlike pokemon with a gold coin on its forehead, calling to people to come and try the honey doughnuts, a wobuffet, a blue blob pokemon that looked like a punching bag almost, just standing there, a red hair lady in the truck leaning in a chair, and a blue haired man manning the fryer.

"Two dozen honey doughnuts please." Zane orders. The red-haired lady crashes to the floor startled. "Coming right up!" He said getting order ready. "You will love them for sure." Meowth said. "Or not" Wobuffet said in the pokespeech. Meowth gets annoyed "Don't tell them that. We are trying to make money here." Zane chuckled "never met a meowth that could talk in the human tongue to clearly." The red-haired lady had an ice pack on her head asked, "You say that like to understand pokemon."

"It's a gift and sometimes a curse." Zane says as this wedding ring flashes in the sunlight. "that's quite a pricey ring you got there." Meowth says. "Thanks. I had the engagement and wedding rings custom made. My name is Zane Laskaris and this my daughter Sakura." They introduesed themselves. James the blue haired man and Jessie the red-haired lady.

A Bewear, a tall black bear with a pink and white furred head, walked up to the food cart as the sun got lower in the sky. "Wait! We got this last order to finish!" Meowth said hurriedly. A Stufful, the preevolvion of bewear(Looks like a stuffed animal sized version of bewear but it walked on all fours and has a 'tag' on it's butt under it's tail.), popped from behind bewear.

"Hello ma'am. You are looking quite healthy." Zane said smiling. "Are you going for a walk with your child?" Bewear stared then Stufful jumped onto Sakura's head to get a closer looked at Zane's feather braid. Meowth was acting worried "I'd be careful. Bewear can break trees." Zane smiled "I can too but I'm on vacation with my daughter. No work, no world ending diesters. Just a father daughter vacation."

Bewear seemed to decide something then snatched up Zane, Sakura, and stufful. She then jumped into the sky leaving Jessie, James and meowth with Zane's food. "If we hurry, we can get it to him before it gets cold." James said as they started closing shop. They didn't know that people saw what happened and started to talk.

The next day

Melemele Island

Pokemon School

Ash Ketchun entered the classroom and found his friends talking about something. "what's going on?" he asked. Lana looking worried said "A bewear abducted two people out of nowhere yesterday evening. They haven't set out search parties yet in case it's a false alarm." Kiawe nodded "I saw it happen. They ordered some doughnuts from a food truck then the beware and a stufful came out of nowhere. It stood there staring. Then wham! Grabbed both father and daughter and jumped into the sky. I swear I've seen that Bewear and Stufful before." Kiawe said thinking.

"now that you mention it, that sounds like what happens to Team Rocket." Sophocles said with wide eyes "You don't think it's the some pokemon, do you?" Mallow taps her finger on her chin. "It might be. But how would that help find the messing people. It's not like we know where Bewear lives."

Lillie runs in worried "Someone broke into the Aether Paradise at some point in the last week." "WHAT!" they yell. Catching her breath, she adds "they bypassed all the alarms and stole beast balls." That stopped them. "beast balls? How did it take a week to notice that?" Kiawe wondered "They check the number of beast balls once a week."

Ash clenched his fists "Not only are two people missing but someone has the means of catching an ultra-beast." Lillie looked pale. "The rumor was true?" Professor Kukui walked in and said "Alola class." They return the greeting. "I'm sure you heard the rumor about bewear. For now, we will leave it to officer Jenny." He said.

"But we have a lead. The Bewear is very likely the one that grabs Team Rocket. Shouldn't we ask them where Bewear is?" Sophocles asks. Kukui thinks about it. "That good but we'd need to find Team Rocket to ask them. It's not like they'd show up here." Kukui was cut off by James running from an origami figure slashing at his heels. "Help!" James yelled diving through a window smashing the glass. The origami figure floats away to find another target.

Ten minutes later

James sat in the classroom begging for their help. "It came out of nowhere and started slashing at us. We scattered but it still followed me all the way here." James explained as his cuts were tended to. "You said that attacked only you." Kukui said thinking. "Yes! It was letting me be just ahead of it too. Now it's after another target." James said wincing.

"What happened to the father and Daughter Bewear abducted?" Ash demanded. "Zane and Sakura? They were with us when that paper slasher attacked. I think Sakura is with Meowth. Jessie is with bewear and Zane is with Stufful." James said

"What happened yesterday?" Mellow asked "According to Meowth, Bewear wanted Sakura to spend time with Stufful. Then Zane spent the night chatting with Bewear. Zane can talk to pokemon apparently." James had a puzzled look on his face. Kiawe crossed his arms and asked, "Where did Zane head?"

"Towards the Ruins up the mountain. The one with the rope bridge." James answers. They rush out to head to there and James follows yelling for them to slow down.

An hour later

Outside the Ruins of conflict

They were watching from the bushes with the others. "Is he crazy? He's trying to fight the ultra-beast with just a sword and shield." Sophocles asked watching Zane stand across from Kartana. "This is totally illogical" RotomDex said taking pictures. "Father is a master swordsman." Sakura whispered. "quiet down. The showdown is about to start." Jessie whispered to them. Zane drew his Kopis and strapped on the Hoplon Shield Hestia gave him. The shield was a large dish shaped disk big enough to hide behind but easy enough to carry into battle. It bore her symbol proudly.

The duel started with Kartana attacking with an arm shrouded in dark energy. Zane deflected with his shield. "That was Night Slash and a powerful one at that." Kukui explained as Zane counterattacked. Kartana continued using slashing moves like Air Slash, Psycho Cut, and Leaf Blade. Zane blocked, dodged or deflected each time. The two got faster as it carried on. The onlookers, save Sakura, watched in awe as a human was going toe to toe with an ultra-beast.

Kartana readied one final attack. "That's Sacred Sword!" Ash said worried. "what's that do?" Lillie asked, "It's a fighting type attack that bypasses all defenses." Kukui explained. "He can't block it. He'll have to dodge it." Mallow gasped "I think he has other plans." Zane swung his blade and met the sacred sword attack head on. Neither side was backing down as their pride as swordsman were on the line. Zane pushed harder and stepped forward breaking the sword clash, sending Kartana into the rocks.

"Well fought Kartana but victory is mine. Beast ball go!" Zane said throwing a beast ball at Kartana. It rocked and few times then dinged. "Capture successful" Zane said sheathing his blade and retrieving the beast ball. "Did you enjoy the show?" He said as they came out of the bushes. "That was crazy. When you said you were skilled, I had no idea you were that good!" Meowth said.

"I thought was you, Zane." Kukui says looked Zane up and down. "You've aged well. It's been a few years and you still looked the same. What's your secret?" Kukui asked jokingly. "trade secret. You still a teacher?" Zane said amused. "Yup and I'm not going to retire anytime soon. What bring you to Melemele Island?"

"vacation but the family 'curse' struck again." Zane said with a shrug. "what kind of curse?" Lana asked "The kind that gets you in the middle of trouble at the worse timing. My father had a habit of getting kidnapped then returning home with souvenirs. It was an interesting childhood." Zane said with a hint of sadness.

Pikachu jumps on to Zane's shoulder rub against his face. "Good to see you too." Zane said scratching in Pikachu's sweet spot. "You're the Wrath Master." Ash said. "The who?" his classmates asked confused. "The Wrath Master is a pokemon trainer who captured and tamed the monstrous Aggron that ruled Iron Island in Sinnoh." James explains "They called him the Iron King, a ten-foot-tall Aggron who ruled Iron Island crushing any challenger with overwhelming force." James shuddered. "The Iron King ruled the island for decades until one day five years ago, someone in armor with a bird motif challenged the king to combat. No one knows what happened, but a week later, the Iron King was no where to be seen. The challenger had beaten and capture the iron king."

Zane laughed warmly "He put up quite a fight, by my Tyrantrum showed him the power of the ancient world." Sophocles eyes sparkled "Can you show us?" Sakura who was cuddling Stufful looked at Bewear. Pouting, she handed over Stufful and Bewear grabbed Team Rocket, running off. "I guess the playdate is over." She said looking down. Zane ruffles her hair "Fluffy will be more than happy to be your cuddle buddy." He says cheering her up.

Back at the Pokemon School

"I'll show you my team. The safest first of course." Zane says releasing Slowking "Hello children. I hope Zane hasn't caused any riots." Slowking said in English amused. Slowking focused on Ash and Pikachu "You must be Ash. My cousin on Shamouti Island talked about you a lot. Great work saving the world." He said shaking Ash's hand.

"This is Slowking. The white mage of my team. His job is to heal and keep the other members from fighting each other. Mainly Iron King and my Tyrantrum. I have the feeling that Kartana will also on that list soon." Zane says. "Houndoom is also on that list. Fluffy is the only one that doesn't get in to fights, mainly because she is an overgrown puppy personality wise." Slowking said laughing.

"How old is Slowking?" Mallow asked Wagging a claw Slowking answered "Quite old. But I refuse to tell my age to just anyone." Sakura was tackled by Fluffy, Zane's Granbull who had a habit of leaving the pokemon when she pleases. "I'm happy to see you too, Fluffy." Sakura said laughing as Fluffy licked her.

"This is Fluffy. I caught her as a snubbull because Sakura won the egg a few years ago. Don't let her playfulness fool you, she can dish out the pain." Zane said as Fluffy sat down letting Sakura get up. "Anyways, up next is my starter, Houndoom." Zane releases said pokemon who looks around ready for a command. "at ease. I'm showing a class of kids what years of training and connecting results in." He says petting between Houndoom's horns.

"What's that around his neck?" Kiawe asked. "That is a Houndoominite, a mega stone. I might not have Z moves but my bond with Houndoom is stronger than any Z move can be." Zane said with complete conviction. Ash grinned "Let's battle! Houndoom vs Pikachu!" Zane grinned back. "After I introduce you to one more pokemon. I'm not letting Iron King out. He only comes out to eat or battle, be it sparing or battling opponents. This is Tyrantrum." He releases that T-rex pokemon how roars majestically. "You are such a show off." Zane deadpanned as his ear rang. "The kids love it when I do it, so do you." Tyrantrum said in pokespeech.

Brionne, Lana's pokemon who loomed like a seal lion wearing a tutu and a red nose, hopped on to Tyrantrum' back and made its way up to her head. "Brionne, be careful!" Lana called out.

Ten minutes later

Ash and Zane stood at the battlefield. "The battle between Ash and Zane will be a one on one battle. The winner is decided when one side can no longer battle." Kukui said being the referee of the pokemon battle. Houndoom was hunched and teeth bared. "Are you ready Ash? This will be a battle of bonds. Show me how strong your bonds are." Zane said. Pikachu was ready as Ash said, "Ready when you are!"

"Let the battle begin!" Kukui said. "Pikachu! Quick attack!" Ash commanded. "Houndoom, charge up." Zane said as Pikachu sped towards them. Houndoom started gathering energy in his opened mouth. "Watch out, Ash! That's a solar beam!" Mallow warns. Houndoom tanked the quick attack then blasted Pikachu at close range. "Pikachu!" Ash said as his pokemon recovered from the blast.

"Well done. That move made Houndoom slide back a few inches. And even more impressive, you survived the solar beam, it wasn't full power but at that range it did its job." Zane said. "Pikachu, Electro Web!" Pikachu jumped and spun. Houndoom used flamethrower without being commanded. The web was stopped in its tracks. "You can do better than that. You said you'd show me the power of your bond, but I don't think your really trying!" Zane taunted with crossed arms.

Ash was sweating but grinned "We're just getting started, right Pikachu?" Pikachu agreed and used Thunder as Ash commanded. Zane just said, "bite the lightning." To everyone's shock, Houndoom used Thunder Fang to stop the Thunder the absorb the attack, super charging the Thunder Fang. An aura of electricity enveloped Houndoom. "Does this ring a bell, Ash?" Zane asked.

"That's one of my combos." Ash said in awe. "does not compute." RotomDex kept repeating as he took picture after picture. "is it just me or Zane teaching more battling?" Kiawe asked. "That's correct. Zane believes in learning combat through battle. In battle the warriors' true intentions will show themselves as they clash. A pokemon Battle is no different in his eyes. He's driving Ash to his limits." Kukui said not looking away from the battle.

"Pikachu, Electrified Iron Tail!" Ash ordered as Houndoom leaped with fangs bared. The attacks clashed and arcs of lightning tore up the battlefield as the crash continued. Zane was unflinching as the arcs got dangerously close to him. "You are doing better but it's not enough. Houndoom, time to evolve!" Houndoom disengaged the clash as Zane touched the mega stone set in the amulet around his neck. Tendrils of energy from both connected and Mega Houndoom howled signaling it was a success.

"This is your last chance. Show me the extent of your bonds." Zane ordered. Ash's Z crystal glows as he throws his hat to Pikachu and they do synchronized poses. "10,000,000 VOLT THUNDERBOLT!" They both yell (Pikachu does it in pokespeech) as Pikachu jumps up and unleashes rainbow lightning. Zane grinnes prondly and orders "Use Return, full power." Mega Houndoom glows then leaps at the airborne Pikachu. When to two attack collided, an explosion ripped through the air sending everyone back save Zane who stood firm.

Ash got up as the dust settled. Houndoom was barely standing as electricity painfully arced from his body. Pikachu was fainted on the ground not far from Ash. "Pikachu is unable to battle, Zane and Houndoom are the winners." Kukui announced. "Have a long rest." Zane said softly, returning Houndoom, who howled his victor before he was returned.

Ash was holding Pikachu in his arms as Zane walked up to him. "You are a worthy opponent, Ash. You can take pride in pushing us that far. I can't remember the last time someone done that." Zane said. "What was that attack?" Mallow said coughing. "Return, a move that gets stronger closer the bond between trainer and pokemon is. In all my years studying pokemon attacks, I've never seen a Return that powerful. They were of one mind and body in that battle." Kukui said shocked.

"The power was off the charts!" RotomDex said showing graphs of the attacks. Professor Burnet ran to the school yelling "Is everything ok? I saw the explosion from the market." Surveying the ruined battlefield, she gasped. "Did an Ultra-beast attack?" Kukui shook his head. "No, it was a clash between a z move and a Return attack." She was shocked "that couldn't have been a regular attack. That Return felt like a Z move." Burnet said in disbelief.

"What I don't get is what Zane is trying to teach?" Lillie said. "The same lesson he teaches those he feels are too sure of their prowess. There is always someone stronger out there. Zane is also known as the ego crusher." Kukui explained. "When he runs into trainers who believe they are unbeatable, he challenges them to back up their words. It doesn't matter who they are, he will face them in battle."

"how powerful is he?" Lana asked, "I have no idea." Kukui said. Slowking used heal pulse on Pikachu as Zane looked at the ruined battlefield. "Looks like I wrecked another battle site. It was outside so no need to worry about the roof falling in." Zane says laughing. "That will do for now. Nurse Joy should have a look at him, just in case." Slowking advised Ash who was stunned at the defeat. "Zane, what did I do wrong?" He asked.

"nothing that can't be remedied with more training. When I used your own combo against you, you froze for a moment. That is dangerous in battle. You can't expect every possibility but when confronted with surprises you have to react accordingly." Zane said warmly. Ash nodded then left for the pokemon center.

In the woods not far from the school

"That Houdoom is a monster!" Meowth said as Team Rocket had watched the battle with binoculars. "Yeah. He beat Pikachu's strongest move. The twerp got wrecked. I'd say steal it for the boss, but I don't have a death wish." James said shivering. "Meowth, you chatted up that beast yesterday. What's the deal?" Jessie asked. "The long short of it is that Houndoom's pack kicked him out for being the runt of the litter soon after hatching. After a few brushes with death, Zane found him and gave him a place to call home." Meowth said wiping away tears. "When the old pack found him, they attacked calling him a disgrace for joining a human pack. Zane protected him with his own body. Zane drove the pack away and Houndoom pledged to be by his side no matter the foe."

"That's so touching." James said moved. Mimikyu, a ghost/fairy pokemon wearing pikachu costume, said something and Meowth translated "Mimikyu said that Zane has an aura about him. A very strange one at that." Confused Jessie asked, "What kind of aura?" Mimikyu said more things. "The aura of a ruler and the aura of something primal." Meowth translated "It reminds Mimikyu of the aura of power that the Tapus have but different. It's hard to explain to a human. Us pokemon notice things you don't. And Mimikyu is right. Zane has this feeling to him that makes me think of Groudon and the other legendries that use fire." Meowth knew it wasn't the best description but that was the best he could give.

"So, he's got so kind of power that is like a legendary pokemon. If that is true, then why haven't pokemon bowed down to him or fled at the sight of him?" James asked. "Because they don't make the connection like we did. Most pokemon never get to see a legendary pokemon go on a rampage. Once you feel that you never forget the feeling of dread." Meowth explained animatedly.

"I don't get how Zane could be that powerful but I'm going to trust you." Jessie said not getting it completely. "any tips to not set off mt Zane?" She asked. "Don't mess with his family or his religion." Meowth said. "Makes sense. For some reason, Zane's name rings a bell." James said thinking. "That fashion freak from Team Galactic complained about a Zane on Iron Island. They had to wait for him to leave before they could dig up the temple." Jessies said, reminding him. "That's right! This Zane must have been the Zane she was complaining about." James said with his fist in his palm.

A few days later

Out at sea

"This is where the ship sunk." Zane said reading charts and books. Getting scuba gear on, he dived off the side of his ship, the Crimson Hound, into the water below. It took him ten minutes of searching to find what was left of the ship. Only the central mast and back half of the ship was left. An archer shot past him, a warning shot. A Dhelmise, a ghost pokemon that looked like a ship's wheel and an anchor with sea weed on it, blocked his path.

"What do you want, burning one?" It asked in pokespeech. "There are treasures on there that are harmful to the reef. I wish to remove them before the reef is lost." Zane explained. Dhelmise narrowed its eyes. "What treasures?" it asked. "Metals like copper releases nasty stuff as the sea water changes it." Zane said. "Very well." Dhelmise said letting Zane enter the sunken ship.

Zane found was he was looking for. A hundred cooper banded chests chained together. "Would you be willing to help he move this out of here?" Zane asked. Dhelmise offered its anchor, which Zane wrapped one end of the chain to. Dhelmise reeled it in pulling the train of chests out of the ship. With a heave, Dhelmise throw the lot of them on to the deck of the Crimson Hound into a fit pile.

Dhelmise returned to its home grumbling about nosy visitors. Zane climbed on to the deck and started to check the chests. "I don't feel any leaks, so the contents should be dry." Zane opens the first chest. Inside was jewels and gold. As Zane opened each one getting more annoyed than the last, a periscope watched him.

In the magikarp themed sub, Team Rocket watched Zane and debated what to do as they peddled to keep the sub from drifting away. "He's finding the mother load of cash yet he's not happy. What's up with that?" Jessie said. "He's got to be looking for something other than cash. That ship looks to be worth more than the haul he pulled out of the wreck." James points out how Zane was sifting through the contents of the chests and putting them in piles.

"You think he'd let us have some of the riches?" Meowth said hopeful. Then he froze "Guys, he's looking right at us!" the sub rocks as a net caught them and reeled them in.

Ten minutes later

"You followed my ship because you were looking for teasure?" Zane asked Team Rocket, who were begging for mercy. Their sub was hanging in a net over the water suspended by gravity magic. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Zane said "I don't need the gold and jewels, I'm rich enough as it is. I'll give you 20% of the of cash I get after I sell it. I know a collect that will pay top dollar for pieces like this."

They stop begging but were looking at him then the sub then back to him. "How is the net floating?" Meowth asked "Magic" was what Zane answered before going back to organizing the loot. "What are you looking for anyways?" Jessie asked reaching for a fist sized ruby in the third pile. "I wouldn't touch anything in the third pile. It's got some bad juju aura about it." Zane said not even looking. Jessie moves her hand back.

"First pile is coins and bars, second is jewelry and gems, third is cursed/questionable magic items, and fourth is magical objects that are safe." Zane explained. "Thanks for the warning." Jessie says as she looks at the second pile. "It just had to be in the last one I checked." Zane said as the chest refused to open.

"I've got this." Meowth said using his claws to pick the lock. Runes flashed into view and Meowth was thrown a few meters. "Not bad. That was an anti-lock pick rune set up. From the looks of it, it's a much more complex one than what was used on the other. This will need the right key." Zane said impressed. Summoning his keyblade, he sent a beam of light from the tip of the keyblade. There was a click and the chest opened. Sitting on a velvet pillow was a large marble jewel that looked like an eye.

"That's it? They locked it up so tight that it took a magic oversized key to open and you get a creepy marble." Jessie said. "One it's a Keyblade, the key to any lock and has over nifty tricks. And two, this 'marble' lets you summon an interesting and sometimes frustrating creature. Have you ever played a video game and you found a chest that you regret opening?" James got it "You mean a mimic. Those are annoying creatures indeed. They betray the promise of riches they come to believe when you find a treasure chest." James explained. "Why did they boobytrap the lock?" Meowth said fixing his fur. "Because the mimics this summons can be dangerous in the wrong hands. That and they are tricky to control." Zane says then takes the jewel channeling magic. "Come forth from beyond the void!" Zane chanted as a runic circle hovered before him. Out of it came a large steamer trunk covered with travel stamps and a single eye on the lid. Its open lid shows rows of teeth and a long tongue.

"As you can see, mimics like this are ambush predators. Their food is anyone they can reel in with their tongue. "Oh, summoner of mine, I implore you to give me a nibble. I haven't eaten in such a long time." The mimic sung in an alluring male voice. Zane started laughing at his luck. Feeling miffed the mimic asked still singing "Does my plight sound funny to you?" Zane shook his head still laughing "No you just reminded me of a movie I watched years ago. It's about this alien plant that eats people and sings to get the human that was taking care of it to feed it more people."

"Oh, summoner, you have good taste in movies. But don't threat, I dine on only the finest of meat. The pork chop is my desired pray." The mimic sung pleased. Zane smiled "We'll get along just fine." Team Rocket had taken the time to get into their sub after Zane dropped it back into the water. "We'll swing by for the cash." Jessie said as they pedal away.

"You look well-traveled. Any reason why you were sealed away a few eons ago?" Zane asked. With a huff the mimic sung about losing his creator and being used by many owners. There was even music magically playing as he sung. The final part of the song explained that he stole one too many pork chops. His owner at the time sealed him away and never looked back. As the music faded away, Zane applauded. "Thank you, summoner, my last owner disliked my musical talents. Being forcibly turned into a summon and forgotten gave me plenty of time to make a song of the many eons I have been alive. I do miss Master Zane. His father many have been my first owner, but Master Zane was the one to name me!" The mimic said as Zane stared.

"PHIL! How are you still around? The last I saw you was sitting in my attic the night that I had the argument with my mom and not alive. It's been almost 30,000 years." Zane said laughing at the odds that He'd find Phil the singing travel mimic. It's what Zane named his dad's trunk he took with him everywhere he went. Given his track record for getting kidnapped, Phil got a lot of stamps on him.

"Master Zane! The years of searching have paid off at last! I was aiming for finding your descendants, but this is more than welcome." Phil the mimic scuttled around Zane on spidery legs. "When the planet expired, something strange happened. I was alive! I was stranded in a cave near a wooden door. I may have scared the locals into making a legend about the cave housing a monster. My singing was a thing of nightmares for a few decades."

"You landed on Destiney Islands. I can't wait to tell the gang that the story Riku heard as a kid was kind of true. From your song, I inferred that you have been visiting quite a few worlds." Zane said. Looking proud, Phil the mimic nodded smugly "No matter the world I did my duty as luggage should. Watch this." Phil the mimic closed his mouth then opened it to instead of teeth and tongue, the interior of a warehouse with a ladder leading into it. Closing his mouth and reopening it to his eating mouth he said, "As you can see, I can store whatever you need without worry of people stealing it. Who's the lucky lady?" Phil the Mimic sung amused.

"I'll tell you later. I have 'cursed treasure' to examine." Zane said looking at said loot pile. Phil the mimic shrugged and started to explore the ship. "Death curse. Murphy's Law curse. Curse that makes squirrels hate you." Zane said as he checked each piece. There was a lot deadly or painful curses on the pieces. It was clear these were going to the forbidden vault at least.

A few weeks later

Marvel earth

Avengers Tower

After the eventful but peaceful vacation, Zane brought his family to visit the Avengers. Zane laughed madly as Tony nonchalantly asked how all proof of the Sokovia Accords, including memory, was eased save the name and no matter how they tried they couldn't brainstorm a new version of it. "Serves them right! That thing would have doomed the universe." Zane said between laughs.

"You did that?" Steve Rogers asked "You bet. You should have seen the look on General Ross's face when his plan to use that thing to capture the Hulk was lost for good. His face turned so red he looked like a mini hulk but red." He shows Bruce Banner the video of Ross rant as his face invents new shades of red and his veins looked ready to pop. The video ended with Ross being hit with a dart and carted away by medics.

"How did you get that angle?" Banner asked. "Using Samuel. A bottom up mothed AI I created, who turned out much better than Ultron did." Zane said Samuel's avatar appeared on the phone. "Creator, you will be please to hear the hacker will be found within the next month." Vision walked through the wall and Samuel inspect him. "Is this the 'Vision' you told me about? I don't see the point of having a body. Being digital has much more freedom than the moral form does."

"Tony, someone has pulled a you." Vision said amused. "I resent that. Zane did that before I knew him, so I'm not to blame." Tony countered "What did you do? Created AIs based on your brain and let them grow in a survival of the fittest type thing?" Banner shocked asked "That sounds like it'd create another Ultron."

"That's exactly what my creator did. Of the hundred, I am the lone survivor." Samuel confirmed. "That's barbaric." Steve said shocked. Zane rolled his eyes. "For one, it was 20,000 simulated years for the AI and two, there were safety precautions in place to prevent another Ultron. I may have had to terminate a few dozen that went Skynet, but Samuel is the best digital employee I've got." Zane said.

"Might I remind you that the other digital employees had no idea what ice cream was. The Datamon are reasonable at crunching numbers but they have no taste buds." Samuel reminded him of the Digimon Zane hired. "They are logic driven. Of course, they don't know about frozen treats organic beings enjoy. That's why I've got organic employees to worry about that." Zane explained.

"sounds reasonable. The tech nerds crunch the numbers and fun ones get to suffer bad batches to make the good ones. Someone has to take the fall." Tony said. "It's not like the 99 other AI were able to deal with the stress that they were meant to deal with. They had 20,000 years to realizes that fact. The bottom up method of making AI has inherited losses." Tony started to explain in deal how it works. Banner understood it but Steve only understood the barebones of it.

"So, you throw pre-AI into a 'world' then speed up time, so years go by in a short time. The surviving AI will evolve into fully sentient digital beings. Did miss anything?" Steve asked, "You missed all the details, but you got the key points." Tony says shrugging. "Tony, not everyone understands that high level science." Hawkeye said popping out of the vents.

"How long were you in there?" Aqua asked confused. She had been listening to the conversation up to this point. "the whole time. Fury asked me to see if you knew about the memory issue and the fact some AI was bouncing around the web like a pinball." Hawkeye said as he climbed out. Activating his com "Hawkeye to Fury. The Vermilion bird is behind both issues. Over."

Zane's phone rings, it was Fury. "What is going on?" Fury said annoyed. "Just tracking an annoying complex trail across multiple digital networks in and out of the dark net too." Zane said. "Sounds lovely. Please warn me next time your AI uses the SHIELD private network as a shortcut to follow a trail." Fury demands before hanging up.

"He's as cheerful as ever." Zane comments dryly. "Don't sweat it. Where's your daughter?" Tony asked. "She's planting sapling with Groot in the park for a 'Save the trees' event. Rocket Raccoon is there too. I have no idea how the public will react to an alien tree man planting trees." Zane said. "Judging by the lack of screaming and rioting, they are taking it well." Banner said.

Tony flips the tv to the news. "Here in Central Park, a strange sight is appearing right now. A tree creature and a talking raccoon are helping plant new trees. Among the volanteers is the daughter of the Founder of Rebirth Ice Cream Creamery. To remind those who down know, Zane Laskaris is the founder and CEO of one of the most profitable ice cream factory chain in the world." A female reporter said. "The factories never have any workers entering or leaving. They are many theories about what happens in them, but we may have a chance for answers today."

The report goes up to Sakura and asks "Sakura Laskaris, what can you tell us about the workers in your father's factories?" Sakura stopped shoveling "It is company policy to not talk about any secrets to those not in the know. What Father lets me say is that the workers have their now means of entering and leaving other than the front door. Now these trees put plant themselves." She said going back shoveling.

"Please tell us more. The people deserve answers." The reporter pressed. Rocket Raccoon steps in saying "She said that's all she can say on the subject. Get back to talking about the trees before I plant you like one." The reporter retreats. "As you can see, the Laskaris family is tight lipped on what goes on behind those doors."

Turning off the TV, Tony laughed saying, "That rodent told her off. Did you see the look on her face? F.R.I.D.A.Y. is that reporter someone I know?" An article was brought up that slandered Tony. "Oh! That who she is. A dirty muckraker looking another person to throw under the bus." Tony said. "She will just find someone else to slander. Black Widow is shadowing her on Fury's orders. She may try something after she was denied her next big break." Hawkeye explained.

"Make sure to thank him for us." Aqua said smiling.

A few hours later

Sakura was back yet. Zane started to pace. It was at the four hours mark that Groot and Rocket Raccoon entered the room. Looking shifty, Rocket asked, "If your daughter happened to pick up some gadget that she found Digimon holes then get sucked into a hole made of one and zeros, what would you do to us?" Groot, who was fully grown, started to beg. "I AM GROOT!" This translated to 'I'm so sorry! Don't burn me'. "Groot I'm not going to burn you to ash. This was out of your control, some creatures with questionable plans of saving their world from evil using children, are likely behind this." Zane ground out.

"Wait! Some group of bigwigs are use children to save their world. Are they going to use their adorableness to defeat evil?" Rocket said sarcastically. The TV turns on to show one of the hired Datamon, a machine Digimon with four short legs, two claws arms, and a tall glass done showing more tech. "As much as that'd be amusing, it is not the case. An hour ago, a digigate was detected. Sakura's tracker signal was detected on File Island briefly before it was jammed by an unknown source. What was strange is that two signals connected with Sakura's. there is a 59% chance those are her digimon partners bonding with her. I will report back when there is more information." Datamon reported then cut the connection.

"So that tin can is one of your employees? He looks like he doesn't have even a bad taste let alone a good taste in his glass dome. I'll give him credit for hacking the TV." Tony said Groot worried asked "I am Groot?" Rocket nodded saying "Yeah what's the plan?"

"This." Zane said as cocoon of data covered him and broke reveling his mega level form. He tried to open a digigate but it failed. "This calls for the big guns." They all back away as he digivolves to a stronger form, Daemon Beast mode. Daemon Beast Mode looked like a demon from hell. His left arm was longer than the other.

"Not going to lie, but that is the scariest thing I've ever seen you do." Rocket said as they felt the anger radiate off him. Zane and Daemon's duel voice sounded extremely angry. "No digimon sovereign will keep me from my Daughter!" Zane slashed open a hole to the DIgiworld and flew into it. They stared as the gate closed. "He was angrier than the Hulk." Banner said as Black Widow and Fury enter. "What was that feeling of supreme wrath just now? We felt it from the ground floor." Fury demanded.

"I am groot." Groot said. "You said it. That is one angry father." Rocket answered, scared stiff. "Zane was the source? What set it off?" Black Widow asked but noticed Sakura wasn't there. "Someone took his daughter and he gave chase." They nod. "Zane went angry demon lord and ripped a hole in time and space. Sucks for the ones who get in his way." Tony says getting out bourbon. "The question is who tells his wife? She went sightseeing and Hawkeye is keeping an eye on her. NOT IT!" Tony says quickly. "I'm not crazy!" "I am groot!" "Not even the hulk would do it." Rocket, Groot, and Banner says in that order.

"Sir, she can create ice via 'magic' so I believe it's best that we let someone that can handle it tell her." Black Widow advises Fury. "Man of Iron! I have come to part take in ale but on the way here Loki showed up to inform me that he was needed. It was then that this monstrous feeling a wrath descended on the city." Thor explained boisterously. They look at him then at each other and smile. The universe provided.

At the park

Aqua was looking around for Sakura when Loki walked up to her. Hawkeye eyed Loki. "Hello Clint. Did you feel the wrath?" Loki greeted. "Yes, I did, and I have a feeling that Zane is involved." Loki clears his throat "Ma'am, I have been tasked to inform you that your daughter was taken, and your very scary husband has given chase. May what ever god the kidnapper warship has mercy for Zane likely has none right now."

Aqua was doing calming breaths. "He warned me his family has a habit of being snatched at the worst times. I had hoped it was just by blood, but this proves otherwise." Loki arches a brow. Family curses like that tend to strike any member of the family, including adopted and those that marry into the family. "Are the kidnapped members killed because of this curse?" Loki asked "No! the worst they've suffered is a broken limb. Most of the time they return home scuffed up but fine. Zane said it was one of the prices for a deal made long ago." Aqua said sighing.

"So, all we can do is wait. Sounds like that ancient chinse curse 'may you live interesting times'." Hawkeye commented.

 **Author's note: The next chapter start with Sakura's journey in the digiworld. Chapters will start to stay in close to 20,000 word rang if I can. See you next chapter!**


	17. Ladybird Girl

**Welcome! That this point Zane has hunted down four of the seven Demon lords. Lucemon, lord of Pride, was deleted. Barbamon, the lord of Greed also deleted because he tried to steal from Zane's vault. Lilithmon, the lord of lust, was working under Zane as a General in his army of mainly Nightmare Solider Digimon. And Leviamon, the lord of envy, is on Zane's side as an ally with an army of Sea Saver Digimon. Make no mistake, Leviamon has his own plans but Zane didn't try to force Leviamon to give up his rule over the Dark Ocean. Only Belphemon and Beelzemon are left to hunt down but the ones that were deleted might not be gone for good.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 17: Ladybird Girl**

Digiworld (adventures era)

File Island

Primary Village

Sakura's fall was broken by the softest ground she ever felt. The place looked like it was a giant playpen for a baby, colorful building sized blocks, toys growing on trees, and guilting patched ground. "She came!" two voices said as a pair of ball like in-training level Digimon bounces up to her happily. One was a yellow ball with tiny stump leg and a pair of bladed horns, he was called Sakuttomon. The other was a fuzzy orange ball with sharp looking teeth and wearing a bronze shield as a hat, he was called Kakkinmon.

"Get back here to troublesome twins!" A cannonball like Digimon with arms and legs, bearing a lighting bolt like crest on his forehead said floating after them. "Well. I haven't seen a human since I was in Miss Togomon's classroom. My name is Thundermon." Thundermon offer a hand and pulled Sakura up shaking the hand Sakura offered in return.

"What brings you to the Primary Village?" Thundermon said as he picked up the twin Digimon and carried them back where they bounced from. "My name is Sakura Laskaris. A digigate sucked me in out of nowhere and spat me out over this place." She said as she looked at the digieggs and cradles. "You're lucky. Primary Village is a safe place for Digimon hatch and grow strong enough to take on the world. Aside from me, Elecmon protects and feeds the baby Digimon from anymon that tries anything."

"Thundermon! Did you find the troublesome twins? Oh! You did and a human." Elecmon, a red mammal Digimon with a fan of feathers like a peacock on his back, said interested. "This is Sakura Laskaris, a human that who just got here from the human world. Her last name rings a bell, any idea why?" Thundermon asked. Sakuttomon excitedly said "I know where! It's the name of the Great Protector! Zane Laskaris. She must be related." Kakkinmon chattered "That's right it's on the plaque."

"You mean the unmovable, unbreakable statue that you are not to play near because you could hurt yourselves?" Elecmon said as the twins whistle innocently. Sighing Elecmon says, "I'm not mad, I just want to keep both of you safe. Unlike most Digimon, you can't fight like most Digimon do. One wrong move and you are easy pickings."

The twins look sad saying "we're sorry." Thundermon sets them down then says. "So, Sakura. What's your connection to Zane?" Sakura smiles. "He's my father. He's probable on his way now to find me." Thundermon laughed "That sounds like him. When protects something, he protects it. Back when I was a Kapurimon, a purple and white horned helmet wearing ring tailed ball if it helps you imagine better, Zane gave a lesson on Digivolution. That same day a flood came in and he used this huge boulder to block the water. Many years later, I'm a champion level Digimon watching over the next generations."

A clanging sound echoed from the west. "Is that rockhead of a mon trying deface the statue again?" Elecmon asked running off. Sakura follows not noticing the twins following her stealthily.

Statue of Great Protector

Elecmon was thrown back as an icy rock man Digimon, Icemon attacked mindlessly. The statues showed Zane as Neodevimon holding his kopis ready for combat. "Leave him alone!" Sakura yelled pulling Elecmon behind her. Her digivice glowed and the twins digivolved. Kakkinmon's rookie form was Ludomon, a green armor plated Digimon with shields on his arms and as a hat. Sakuttomon's rookie form was Zubamon, a golden armored knight reptile Digimon with a tattered white cape and a bladed horn.

"You will not harm them!" Ludomon said using Wall Rake to strike with the clawed arm shields. Icemon stumbled back and Sakura spotted a black gear in his back. "Aim for the gear!" She ordered. 'Right!" they say and tag team Icemon. Ludomon draws fire. Icemon's attacks were slowly freezing Ludomon but he weathered the attacks. Zubamon lined up behind Icemon's back and used Twenty Drive to charge and smash the black gear.

Icemon groaned. "Did anyone see the Monochromon that ran me over?" seeing where he was. "Why am I here? I swear I was on the over side of the island and it was night, not day." Elecmon shakily got up. "you tried to attack the statue again. Then you attack me and anyone else that tried to stop you. Judging by your mindless expression the gear enslaved you." Elecmon explained flinching as his legs give out under him. The twins lift him up from both sides. "It's time for us to help you. Ludomon said smiling. Chuckling Zubamon said "from the looks of it, it's you who got hurt, not us for once."

Elecmon sighed "you troublemakers won this round, but I still had to save you more than enough times from the trouble you created." Elecmon countered amused. A zombie looking lion man Digimon with large arms that dragged on the ground as he lumbered on. "Madleomon! What is a Digimon like that doing here?" Icemon asked worried. Madleomon looked at them with glowing dull red eyes. "Lady Sakura?" He said slowly pulling out a handheld projector that showed a holographic image of Sakura when activated. Nodding he put it away and lumbered to them as Thundermon zoomed in the way. "You are not welcome here." Thundermon stated.

Madleomon scratched his head confused "Must find lady Sakura. Fighting bowling bowl not promited. Boss's orders." Madleomon said dully. Thundermon was confused and offended. "Why?" Thundermon asked. Madleomon nodded and pressed a butten on a playback device "Madleomon you are to locate and guide Lady Sakura to the nearest safe place unharmed." An unknown female voice said. "play this recording if you need a reminder." He puts it away.

"Can you wait a little bit?" Thundermon asked. Madleomon nodded and sat there as they lead Elcmon back to the village. After patching him up, they decided that Sakura should go with him to see who the boss was. The twins promised to watch her back and they departed with the zombie Digimon.

Three hours later

In the forests of File Island

Sakura gasps as the ground shook and spit. Ludomon and Zubamon watched as Sakura fell into the growing gap but sighed in relief when Madleomon grabbed and hoisted her out safely. Sakura watched as the island split and floated apart. "Lady Sakura safe?" Madleomon asked setting her down. "I'm unharmed. Startled but unharmed." She reassured him. Madleomon may be dumb as a brick but he felt proud that he was doing his task perfectly.

"Where are you taking us, big guy?" Ludomon asked. "A safe place." The zombie repeated just like the last dozen times they asked. Clearly the zombie lacked the intellect to tell them more information.

An hour later

Deeper into the forest

They had passed the time playing 'I spy' but were getting bored of the answer being forest related. "I spy something white and orange." Ludomon said as they stopped to catch a breath. "There's nothing white and orange." Zubamon said annoyed. "Yes, there is! It's over there!" Ludomon points out a seal Digimon with an orange mohawk coming out of the bushes. "JOE! I found another human!" The seal Digimon yelled as a pink bird Digimon, Byiomon, and two human kids emerge. The red-haired girl looked to be 12 years old and the glasses wearing blue haired boy looked a to be 11. "Gomamon! Don't run off like that! You could have run into a hostile Digimon…" Joe trailed off then fell backwards when Madleomon looked at him.

"Joe what's the matter…" Sora the red-haired girl froze staring at Madleomon. Byiomon and Gomamon stood ready to fight. "That's Madleomon. A leomon that was twisted into an undead mindless servant. He's stronger than a champion level Digimon." Gomamon explained. "wait! There's no need to fight." Sakura says quickly.

"Wait. You weren't at camp." Joe said fixing his glasses after getting up. "Why do you have two Digimon partners?" Sakura explained that she was dropped in the digiworld out of nowhere and was greeted by the twins. When she explained that Madleomon was sent get her to a 'safe place' they were worried it was a trap. "How can you trust him? He is dumb as a brick and hits like a speeding semi." Gomamon said as Madleomon smiled at the part about how strong he is not realizing he was also insulted.

"Gomamon, I'd watch what you say." Byiomon warned. "He cound be working for devimon." At that name, Madleomon got angry. "Madleomon will smash traitor devimon!" He roared. "Calm down! We didn't mean anything by that." Sora said covering her ears. Madleomon smiled and started lumbering away. "Come follow to safe place." He said anger forgotten.

An hour later

File Island

Overdell Cemetery

They stopped at edge of a cemetery shrouded in mist and a church in the center of it. Masked 'people' in white rubes were walking into it. "This is safe place." Madleomon said going still and unresponsive. A masked 'person' came to greet them. "Welcome to the Overdell Cemetery. How may the Church of the Wrath Lord help you?" the person said warmly.

"We were following him to a 'safe place'." Sora said gesturing to Madleomon. The stranger's demeaner changed to overjoyed "If that's true then our Lord has tasked us with a great duty. We Bakemon will give you shelter until you feel the feed to leave." The stranger said leading them into the church. "Are Bakemon a bunch of nasty ghosts who torment weaker Digimon?" Gomamon asked the stranger nodded "indeed most Bakemon are like that but those you serve the Wrath Lord have been given you purpose. We are to aid travelers among other things. Our lord is powerful as he is kind. Many nightmare solider Digimon have been taken under his wing."

"Not to sound rude, but who is the Wrath Lord?" Joe asked. The stranger and the other people had shed the false form to reveal that they looked like 'bed sheet' style ghosts with a toothy grin. The one they had been talking to was different. He was a Soulmon, basically a bakemon wearing a witch hat that covers its eyes. "The Wrath Lord's name is sacred and will not be said by us lowly beings. He is the one that slain the lords of pride and greed. Not even the Royal Knights could beat him. Fear not, for his anger is no aimed your way. He believes the strong most protect the weak." Soulmon said grandly as the Bakemon nod in agreement.

"Earlier Madleomon reacted badly to the name of the one that split the island. Why is that?" Sora asked as the ghosts scowled "The traitor who 'rules' the island has angered our lord in the past. He attacked an ally to get stronger and was cast out. We eagerly await the day he bites off more than he can chew." Soulmon said sadistically as the bakemon laugh coldly. "Come and enjoy the food. Rest your feet and then get some sleep. If you feel the need to leave in the morning, we will provide supplies." Soulmon said as Bakemon brought out bowls of food and set them at a table.

They sat down not commenting on the silhouette of a winged demon shrouded in flames glaring above the alter. The Wrath Lord looked every bit what the name suggested.

That night

"Sora, what do you think of these digighosts?" Joe asked staring up at the ceiling. The food was good, and the beds were comfortable. "I don't know. This Wrath Lord is Devimon's enemy but who says he's any better than devimon? Sakura seems to trust them." Sora pointed out. Sakura was sleeping soundly along with the Digimon. Gomamon was snoring loud enough keep their conversation unheard. "If they are going to strike it would have been sooner. At worst, they are helpful cultists that hate devimon and his lackies." Joe said. "What's weird is how they reacted to Sakura. She must have a connection to the 'Wrath Lord' with how they took praise from her like was from a kami. She also has a different digivice than ours." Their digivices were light blue squarish devices but Sakura's a D-tector (the ability to spirit evolve will come into play later) with dark blue body, gold grip with red trim and buttons.

"She has two partners so maybe she needs a different modal. Get some sleep, we need to be ready in the morning." Joe says.

The next morning

"These will last you a few days. We have High hopes you will turn that traitor into a digiegg." Soulmon said seeing them off. Byiomon digivolved to Birdramon, large burning orange bird. They made it to Infinity Island in a few hours.

Ten minutes later

File Island

Infinity Mountain

Devimon had super-sized himself by absorbing the black gears, he was beating back the champion level Digimon and things looked grim. TK, the youngest of the chosen children, and Sakura were the only ones without champion level Digimon available to them. Patamon wanted to fight devimon but TK held him close. "TK! Let me fight. I can help." Patamon argued as Ludomon deflected the falling rocks and Zubamon was throwing rocks at Devimon doing little damage.

"I know but what can you do?" TK said worried. Devimon broke a section of the cliffside above them. In that moment, TK's digivise glowed and Patamon digivoled into Angemon. At the same time Matt, TK's older brother yelled out TK's name in fear. Angemon stopped the rocks and attacked Devimon who growled in anger. As the Angemon was only champion level fighter still able to fight, he fought with everything he had. Devimon was defeated by his Hand of Fate attack but Angemon's energy was spent and reverted to a digiegg.

The cliffside weakened from the fighting buried Sakura, TK and their Digimon. Matt ran up to the pile and started to move rock by rock. "Don't stand there!" He yelled to the others who wtried to help but the rocks were too heavy and the Digimon were too tired to help. "Matt. The rocks are too heavy to move. We need to regroup and find some Digimon that can help." Izzy, the kid who brought a computer to a summer camp, tried to explain but Matt shoved him away and kept digging.

"I hate to say it, but Izzy may be right. They're alive under there but we can't just magically move the rocks away. Some of them are bigger than you are tall." Tai, the google headed leader of the chosen children said searching for any sign of a digimon that might be strong enough. "You don't get it! HE's my little brother, I have to protect him." Matt said crying as his arms give out. "We beat Devimon only to lose someone because the rocks felt the need to fall." He said kicking the pile.

"Is it just me or do you hear a rumbling?" Mimi, the fashion kid of the group said. Joe puts her ear to the pile and heard a cracking sound then a shattering sound. "I'd back away from there." He warned as a patch of rocks froze over then was smashed revealing a frozen tunnel. "First to come out was a blue armored Digimon with a wolf head chest plate and glowing shields on his arms. This was TiaLudomon, Ludomon's champion level.

Next was a golden armored four-legged beast with a bladed tail. This was ZubaEagermon, Zubamon's champion level. Behind them was a dusty but unharmed Sakura and TK, who was carrying Patamon's digiegg. "That was close. A few seconds later and we would have been trapped." TK said sad that his partner was currently a digiegg.

"TK! You're OK!" Matt hugs his little brother. "Can it be? It's the Sword and Shield of the Legend-Arms. I knew her Digimon were familiar, but I had no idea it was them." Tentomon, Izzy's electric beetle Digimon partner said. "Who and what are the Legend-Arms?" Sora asked. "The Legend-Arms are a group of Digimon that can turn into weapons at will. According to legend, if a Digimon were to wield any of them they'd gain a lot of power." Byiomon said.

Palmon, Mimi's plant Digimon partner, nodded "They are right up there with the legendary warriors and the seven great demon lords." The humans look confused. Gabumon, matt's fur wearing horned lizrd Digimon explained. "The legendary warriors were ten Digimon who banded together to save the digiworld in the past twice." Shivering he continued "The seven great demon lords, on the other claw, are not evil par say but they are very dangerous. Each one is named after one of the seven deadly sins. Good thing they aren't around." Joe, Sora, and there Digimon partners stare in shock. Gomamon nervously said. "Hate to burst your bubble but there is a church dedicated the Wrath Lord on the island."

Agumon thinks about it. "You mean the one lead by Soulmon? I heard rumors about it but didn't pay it any mind. I thought Thundermon was telling a scary story to us, like the one about sleeping monster whose snores can destroy things around it. If you wake it, it's roar alone can delete champion level Digimon with ease." Agumon said in a mock creepy voice.

"Sora, what did soulmon tell you about the Wrath Lord?" Izzy said after they noticed the parts of the Island returning. "He said that the Wrath lord deleted the Greed Lord and the Pride Lord. What's strange is that the Wrath Lord took in the nightmare solider Digimon and gave them 'a new purpose'. Maybe he isn't evil." Sora said. "It may be because the lord is building an army. It's too soon to say if he's evil or not." Izzy said. A rock shifted says a projection of an old man appeared "Well done children. You feed File Island from the clutches of evil. I'm Gennai." He paused seeing Sakura. "Young lady, I was not aware you were chosen to save the digiworld. Show me your digivice." She does so and he gasps. "My word! Things are worse than expected." Tai butts in "What do you mean chosen to save the world?" The old man coughed "The digiworld chooses champions to protect it from evil matter what form it takes. You were picked but someone up the ladder pulled a fast one and added another piece to the board. Make your way to the continent of Server, make sure to grab the tags devimon hid. You will need them to digivolve to the ultimate level."

The connection was cutoff leaving them with more questions than answers. Sakura was silent as the walked down the mountain. She'd have to tell them who she was. Her Digimon had returned rookie level.

A few hours later

The statue of the Great Protector

"Guys. I know you have questions but listen to what I have to say." She began. They were sitting around the statue with Elecmon, Thundermon, Leomon and Ogremon (a green skinned oni like Digimon who wielded a bone club) there too. "You all know about the Great Protector and Wrath Lord." Ogremon raised a hand. "Those are just legends that are told to scare rookies at the campfire." He said. Leomon sighed "No they are very real. What this has to do with Sakura, I have no idea." Sakura sighed then said. "What you don't know is that they are about the same being." She paused as the gasped in shock. "Years ago, my father was trapped is a dark place. From what I have found out, it worse than Tartarus."

Izzy stared shocked "Worse that the Greek version of hell? Is it in the digiworld?" He said numbly. Leomon and Ogremon shivered. They had a vague idea what that place like that would be like. "It's not in the digiworld, it's somewhere else. You can't reach it easily or safely." She said sadly. "at his weakest, he offered a deal from someone just as desperate."

"Not to sound rude but where does this fit in to the digiworld." Elecmon said confused. "My father is Zane Laskaris. The being that offered him a deal was Daemon, the Great Demon Lord of Wrath." At this bombshell, they stared with dropped jaws. "That would make Zane a human and Digimon at the same time!" Thundermon said feeling a headache coming on. "That would explain why he said he came from the human world when he looked like a Digimon." Thundermon was annoyed that the answer that had eluded him for so long. "Prodigious, to think a human and Digimon could inhabit the same body. Are there any side effects?" Izzy asked. Sakura nodded "Daemon and Father will never be separated until Father leaves the mortal coil. It was a deal made by two beings desperate enough to do anything to survive. It was fortunate that was the price they paid."

"what was it like having a demon lord in the same body as your father?" Mimi asked. Sakura laughed. "You are first to ask that. It was odd at first but once you get past the whole 'great demon lord of wrath' part Daemon is a cultured Digimon who knows quite a lot about the digiworld from the early days onward. What's important is that we have allies in a lot of places, both high and low." She explained as Madleomon lumbered to her setting a large crate down. "Package for Lady Sakura from the Lord." He said than lumbered away.

Smiling sadly, she commented "You wish to know his story, don't you?" they nod. "Barbamon, the lord of greed, twisted him into that state because he could. Father was quite angry that Barbamon didn't suffer enough before being deleted after he found Madleomon chained up in the depths of Barbamon's castle's torture chambers." Leomon nodded sadly. "Barbamon is a nasty Digimon. Didn't you have a cousin that worked at his castle?" He asked Ogremon. "yeah Hyogamon (an ice version of ogremon) said that Fugamon (a red skinned version of ogremon) got a new employer. I guess it happened after Zane cleaned house." Ogremon said. "In fact, Hyogamon said he was working for the same guy. Small world." He shrugged.

"Know you know the truth; I hope you won't put me on a pedestal." Sakura said shyly. "Don't worry about that. You helped us out of a jam, so you are one of us." Tai said confidently. "Thanks for clearing that up Sakura. You solved a mystery that I had been stumped by. What's in the crate?" Thundermon asked.

The crate had a runic array on it, which Sakura laid her hand on. She was scanned and crate fell open revealing a set of dark colored armor and a small device. "Is that Chrome Digizoid armor?" Leomon said looking at it critically. "It got other metals mixed into it too. With sheer strength of basic chrome digizoid, who ever made this know what they were doing."

Sakura looked at the device. It was a box with a red button, she pressed it. It made a weird sound, so she threw it. A hologram of Zane's human form appeared. Grinning the hologram said, "I bet you thought it was going to exploded, right?" Sakura sighed. Father had warned her about some of the tech he cobbled together. Trust him to make a joke out it. "My little sparrow, if you are hearing this then you have been drafted on your very first adventure." Sakura blushed as the others chuckle at the nickname. "At the time of this recording, I had just returned from the Autumn Leaf Fair. I had a blacksmith forge this armor for you. Helping Cherubimon ruin the Digiworld is not easy for me to stomach but he sure pays good. Don't worry! The fact you are seeing this means my plan worked and world was safe!" The hologram sighs. "Knowing me, my future self is likely so passionately angry he ready to tear the one that drafted you a new one. Here's some advice from a calm me. Do your best to come home alive. If you fail to save the digiworld, that's ok because I'll help you avenge it." The hologram blinked then groaned "Really Tony! You got me saying it." The device burns itself to ashes.

"Coolest father ever." TK said with a grin. "indeed, he aided evil to save the digiworld." Thundermon said smiling "Do you need help with the armor?" It didn't take long to put the armor on. As she put the helmet on last, runes blazed to life and armor changed to fit her better. "That aside, how are we to get to Server?" Izzy asks. Leomon laughed "That's easy. We'll build a raft." Sakura armor turned into a pair of dark blue bracelets. "Finally! Styles armor." Mimi said as Sora rolled her eyes at the comment.

A few week later

Server

Colosseum in the desert

Sakura was getting more and more annoyed with Tai, who was the first to find his crest. He was letting his ego do the talking and She was waiting for the fall. He was good leader, but he had yet to screw up badly. She sat in the stands they played soccer in a colosseum they found in the middle of the desert. Etemon, an Elvis impersonating ape Digimon, was tracking them but they needed a break. Tai was getting high strung about it; it was then that the trap was sprung.

She was the only one outside of the electrified goalie net trap. The jumbotron lit up to show the evil monkey "Well. It seems that some digirats are in my trap. I wouldn't touch the net, unless you wanted to be barbequed." He glares at Sakura from behind his glasses. "looks like the armored brat who broke my glasses is smarter than the rest of you. I wanted to delete you myself, but this will be a good substitute." An evil Graymon, Agumon's champion level, stomped out of the gate that would normally lead to where the lions were kept.

"Zubamon, Ludomon are you ready?" She said, "ready when you are." They said digivolving to champion level. The evil Graymon was losing when Etemon gave him a power up. "Get back into fight win you overgrown lizard!" Etemon yelled. The evil Graymon dark digivolved to Skullgraymon, a monstrous skeletal beast with a fleshy missile on its back. The others had uncovered Joe's crest and got out of the net.

Tai stared in horror. "Is that Graymon's ultimate level?" Sora pulled him along yelling "Worry about that later. He's out of control!" SkullGraymon smashed the jumbotron and set his sights on them. Sakura knew she had to delay the beast, so she did what Father told her, reached deep and trusted her partners. Her d-tector glowed and they reached Ultimate level.

RaijiLudomon, was a golden biped armored Digimon with long claws and an invisible shield around his arms. He could fly too. He traded agility for the ability to tank hits from Mega level Digimon. Duramon was a golden biped armored Digimon with shoulder spikes and a horn on his forehead. His arms were blades and so was his tail.

SkullGraymon used Dark shot, firing the missile at them. RaijiLudomon crossed his arms in front of him and the attack was negated by the invisible shield. SkullGraymon roared in anger. "Glass Rush!" Duramon roared slicing up the beast. RaijiLudomon charged up a ball of lightning calling out "Lightning Buster" then slamming it into the beast's head. Its fractal code appeared, and Sakura scanned it "May you find peace in next life. Fractal code digitize!" The code entered her D-tector as the digiegg floats away.

The twins return to rookie level spent. "Can we not fight undead kaiju? That attack was not easy to not dodge." Ludomon said on his back. "I know what you mean. It's cool I got blade arms, but that bone was tough to cut." Zubamon agreed staring up at the sky. "Another ghost story turned out to be true. We need to stop doubting Thundermon's stories." They laugh remembering how when they were in-training Digimon, they said they'd sneak out and prove Thundermon a liar. So far, the score was, Thundermon 260 and them 0. "Prodigious! You were able to reach ultimate without a tag and crest, but it seems the energy cost was greater for you. Izzy said as Joe check her health and noted she looked paler. "I had to do something." Sakura smiled weakly. "What was that dark light and why did it result in the boney brute?" Mimi asked fanning herself.

"listen closely, particularly you, Tai." Sakura says. Tai nods shaken. "That was Dark Digivolution. It is when a Digimon is forced to digivolve resulting in a rampaging beast who cares little for friend or foe." Tai nodded slowing. "Before you mope about not being fit to be leader, ask yourself if you intended for that to possibly happen." Tai smiled gratefully "I see what you mean. I guess I need to be a better leader and a person." Tai said as Matt pat him on the back. "We all have our bad days. Luckily Sakura prevented it."

A few days later

After leaving the colosseum, they had cross paths with a land driving cruise ship. Being turned to stone by a Cockatrice like Digimon, Kokatorimon, was annoying. Luckily the chicken was dealt with and Mimi found her crest. That brought things up to what was happening now. Kuwagamon, a giant red insect Digimon with pincers long as it's six limbs, burst out of the sand. There was funny looking eyes doodled on to its face."It's the Kuwagamon from File Island!" Joe says in fear. "That's the Digimon we doodled on!" Zubamon and Ludomon yelled as the bug glared with its doodled-on eyes. It did not forget what they did.

"Pixi bomb!" A voice said as Kuwagamon was blasted to the point the Fractal code appeared. "It'd be a good time to scan the data." The voice said and Sakura does so "Fractal Code Digitize!" She says then looks at the source of the voice. It was a small pink flying ball with wings and carrying a spear. "Well done. I haven't seen anyone do that since I was a Poyomon floating near the Flame Terminal. I am Piximon and are now my students. Follow me." Piximon says and flies away forcing them to follow.

Hours later

Piximon's home

Piximon had led them to his hidden jungle home that required you to climb a lot of stairs to reach the house itself. The house was quite nice. "You have questions." Piximon stated. Piximon was a trainer who talent was legendary. "You said you've seen what Sakura's digivice can do before. Why is it different than ours?" Izzy asked. Piximon chuckled "It's not a digivice, it's a D-tector. I haven't seen a chosen child with that type since the days when a devimon saved a school of young Digimon from a flood."

He points at Sakura saying "I know who you are, Adopted daughter of the Wrath Lord and Great Protector. You've been trained some but not enough. You and Tai have a different training to do. Come." The two humans, and three Digimon followed Piximon as the others did chores.

"You Tai need to face your fears." Piximon said pointing to a cave. "You will know when your training is done." Tai and Agumon enter the cave. Turning to Sakura he said. "You, on the other hand, will be facing me in combat using them in their weapon forms." He points to the twins. Ludomon looks away sheepishly "We kind of don't know how to do that. We tried but it's like there a mental wall stopping us." Piximon nods. "I see. Maybe you need a different method." He taps the ground and hole swallowed them. "Find the way out." He yelled down before sealing up the hole.

With Sakura

Unknown place

They landed in a foggy city. One Sakura knew, Fuyuki City. "Why this place?" Sakura said eyes darting around. "Sakura! We'll protect you but you have to explain." Ludomon said as Zubamon looked for enemies. "This was where Father adopted me and saved me from a hellish place." She explained as terror whispered in her ear.

"Take us to were you feel safe." Zubamon said and she took them to a park. Sitting on a bench they listened as she told them her life. The happiness then betrayal that led to hell. It was when she described Zane saving her, that something interesting happened. A swarm of KoDokugumon, small spider Digimon with black and yellow stripes on its back, scuttled after them as they retreated. "KoDokugumon, an in-training Digimon that is stronger than rookie Digimon. They don't have Attacks, but they make up for it with sheer numbers." Zubamon yelled and they ran.

Ten minutes later

Fake Fuyuki city

Fake Tohsaka Mansion

"we're stuck in here." Ludomon said as they stared at the horde outside of the window. "They will keep coming until you face the one spawning them." A hazy version of her birth father said walking into the room holding his ruby tipped cane. "Why should I trust a word you say Tokiomi?" She spat her birth father's name. "it's up to you to decide. I'm as fake as this place. Created for the soul purpose of forcing you to unlock your partners' weapon form." Fake Tokiomi said calmly.

Ludomon sighed "He's right. If we unlocked that skill, then we'd be able to travel quicker in tighter spaces. But what are we missing?" Fake Tokiomi had ghost of a smile. "If only the real me was able to see your potential. You fear that you will be used like a normal weapon, then discarded when something better is found." He explained. Sakura looked hurt but understood. Fake Tokiomi looked at Sakura and said "You fear the hell you were sent to. Face these fears and realize what sleeps within."

Five hours later

Fake Fuyuki city

Fake Matou Mansion

"So, you came after all. Maybe you have the right to the sleeping power after all." Fake Zouken Matou sneered then morphed into Dokugumon, a car sized champion level spider Digimon with skull and cross bones on its black back. Fuzzy legs and orange hair with its face being a yellow horned mask. "I will not run from a shadow of a monster like you." Sakura declared as KoDokugumon watch from the shadows. "What about you two, will you let her use you as a weapon?" Dokugumon taunted.

The twins nod and turn into there weapon forms. Sakura grabbed the sword and shield with her armor activated. Dokugumon shot poison needles in a shotgun spread, forcing her to block. Ludomon's shield form held strong as none of needles hit his human partner. "Poison Thread" Dokugumon cried sending out a poisoned web. The poison didn't work but the web pined them down.

"Poison Cobweb!" Dokugumon spat out globs of poison on Sakura. "You cannot win." Dokugumon said above her. She stilled. "It's time to feast." Dokugumon approaching Sakura's prune form, with dripping mandables. As it was upon her, she stabbed into Dokugumon's belly and pulled up. "May you choose wiser in the next life. Fractal Code Digitize!" Sakura says. The twins change back and help her get to the river to wash the poison off.

Fake Fuyuki bridge

"thank you for trusting me." Sakura said as they sat on top of the bridge. "It was nothing. We couldn't let you fight alone." Ludomon said. "Yeah! It's not every day you can say that a human gutted a Dokugumon and live to tell the tale." Zubamon chuckled. They look down at the army of KoDokugumon watching them like lost puppies. "We really should do something about them." Zubamon said creeped out.

"You should be happy all they did was herd us around this place. Now they don't have a leader, not that they had a good one in the first place." Ludomon pointed. "Maybe they can help us out of here." Sakura said and explained about the tale of the spider's thread. The KoDokugumon skitter off somewhere then five minutes later a spider silk ladder drops in front of them.

"Looks strong enough to hold us." Sakura comments and they start to climb.

The next day

Digiworld (Adventure era)

Piximon's home

Piximon was watching the KoDokugumon hauling up the silk ladder from a manhole sized opening. Sakura and the twin sighed in relief. "That was a long climb." Ludomon said happy to see the sky again. "You guys have amazing silk. Thank you for helping us." Sakura said as the KoDokugumon blush and peered from her praise. "Your friends are waiting for you. But first I must ask why you did not attack any of the KoDokugumon?" Piximon asked. Sakura smiled saying "Because even when they with controlled by their creator, they never harmed us."

Piximon beamed proudly "You have seen past the illusions and grasped the truth. Now go forth and save the digiworld." Piximon shooed them towards their friends.

Outside of Piximon's area

"Where were you? Tai said you weren't there when he finished his training." Sora asked worried looked them over for injuries. "I needed to face something I avoided for awhile now." Sakura said. Joe looked at her and said, "You look happier." Izzy looks at her confused "She looks the same to me." Joe tried to explain. "Her smile feels more real than before." Izzy nodded "that makes sense, but I don't see it."

"Sakura, did the training have anything to do with you being adopted?" Sora asked. Sakura took a breath. "Life before Father adopted me was not nice. My birth father was moron with the best intentions. We parted under bad terms and it will never get better." Sakura explained without details. "What about your birth mother?" Matt asked. Sakura coldly said, "She was a doormat when it came to choices Tokiomi, even if it was to give away one of her children so they wouldn't fight over the inheritance."

"Geez, you did not have a good birth family. At least Zane is much better and cooler." Tai said.

A week Later

They had gained access to the Dark Network, it was what Etemon was using to attack them. It was then that he discovered that the digiworld was connected to human world via the internet and other electrical networks. They had gotten an SOS from a Digimon trapped by Etemon. After infiltrating the upside down pyramid them freed the Datamon who was trapped because he knew where the last crest, Sora's, was only for him to kidnap Sora and Biyomon with intent to use them to get back at Etemon.

Things got crazy leading up to Elemon falling into the heart of his Dark Network and attacking them with his new power. Tai and Agumon unlocked the power of the crest to reach Ultimate level. MetalGraymon was a cyborg version of graymon with missles in his chest and a chrome digizoid claw. They defeated Etemon but was sucked into the warp that was created as a result.

Over time they parted ways leaving TK and Sakura at a theme park with a Digimon that set off warning bells in Sakura's mind. She warned TK but was forced to leave when a Devidramon, a four eyed black devil looking gargle beast Digimon, snatched her when she and the twins were out of sight of TK.

She was sitting chained to the wall in the dungeon of Myotismon, a vampire Digimon, waiting to be rescued. They hadn't taken her D-Tector because they were confident that she was powerless to escape. In fact, the fang faced evil Digimon was visiting her now. "Your friends are likely coming to save you not that it will help. I had hoped that this would react to you, but you aren't the 8th child." He dangled a tag and crest from his hand as he taunted her. "what I want to know is who you are. I know you are a chosen child but your digivice is the wrong shape. Could it be that you are the plan B?" a cruel grin appeared on his masked face.

"Tell me your name and I will tell them to give you food and drink. I promise they will not poison it. You are too valuable to me alive." He said. "I am Sakura Laskaris, Daughter of Zane Laskaris, The Wrath Lord and Great Protector. He has other titles, but they are beyond your paygrade." She said proudly enjoying the look of fear on Myotismon's face. He made a hasty retreat leaving Sakura to laugh knowing she had scared him.

A Wizardmon, a pointy hat and cape wearing Digimon carrying a sun topped staff and you can only see upper half of his face, Came in an hour later with a tray of food. "Myotismon said to make sure you are unharmed and fed. Sadly he will not let you leave this cell or the chains." Sakura's arms were struck above her head so Wizardmon fed her. "It's not often that I see him that shaken. From now on Me or Gatomon (A champion level white cat Digimon with yellow paw glows and a holy ring on its tail) will be the only one to interact with you, for yours and their safety." Wizardmon explained.

Sakura understood and said "Thank you Wizardmon. My stay here is be about as pleasant as a prison can be. Myotismon will not want to anger my father anymore. All I have to do is wait for my friends to come and save me or a chance I save myself." Wizardmon nodded "I see. Myotismon did say that you were an important piece on the board when he sent the Devidramon to catch you. The best bet is to stay in the cell for now. If you try to leave, he may decide to kill you regardless the results."

He takes the tray and empty dishes bidding her farewell.

The next Day

Myotismon's castle

Sakura's cell

Gatomon visited after Wizardmon feed her here morning meal. The cat Digimon walked in interested in the human that Myotismon wanted to be kept as unharmed as possible. "I see you are enjoying Myotismon's hospitality. I heard an interesting rumor. A human gave that singing monkey a black eye and smashed his shades. He was sucked into a blackhole so you are the only one that can give me answers." Gatomon said lazily.

"I don't know about the black eye part, but I did catch him off guard. My ears were ringing from the speaker feedback for a few hours. You find that amusing." Sakura noted as Gatomon grinned. "His singing was horrid. I'd claw his face off, but he was still useful until he wasn't." Gatomon said showing off gleaming claws. Gatomon was looking at Sakura intently.

"You smell of feathers, a hint of metal, cherry blossoms, a hearth, and a strange smell. It's there but it's not." Gatomon said interested. "Imaginary numbers. The cat that exists yet doesn't exist." Sakura said. "I've heard of that. A creature who can create spaces outside of reality. You are an interesting human. I'll keep that secret between us cats." Gatomon says as she leaves the cell. Myotismon didn't ask for the information and cats do what they want. Sakura smiled to herself a rune on the tag and crest that Myotismon showed her finished forming on the back of it. It was visible only to her, the one who placed it there, but it would serve it's purpose like the rest of the runes slowing forming at key points around the castle.

Myotismon had no idea he was going to lose the moment he left her in his HQ. Taking over spaces was her specialty, even if it takes longer to do a stealth take over compared to a hostile takeover. It'd take weeks but the look on his face when her plan was completed would be priceless. Her wrists would be sore, but it was worth the payback she'd get.

Three weeks later

Myotismon hadn't even asked about her over the three weeks, leaving Sakura get to know Gatomon and Wizardmon better. "Myotismon is leaving for the human world to find the 8th child tomorrow, meaning our times together might be ending." Gatomon said sadly as she enjoyed the chats they had. "You are planning something, are you?" Sakura smiled slyly "I'm not planning anything currently other than punching Fang face when I get the chance." She was telling the truth because she was already past the planning stage.

Gatomon nodded knowingly "He will be pleased to hear that you are being a good prisoner." She left to report back to Myotismon as Wizardmon came with Sakura's dinner. "I'm sure Gatomon has informed you of what's happening tomorrow, but Myotismon told me that you are to be brought with us when we leave. It seems he intends you to use as a bargaining chip if the Wrath Lord comes knocking. Rules are the same. Gatomon or me will be escorting you wherever you go in the human world with a tether connecting you to us. I hope that is agreeable to you." Wizardmon explained.

The next day

Gate beneath the castle

Myotismon placed nine cards into the pedestal and the giant stone doors opened revealing a glowing path to the human world. "Come, the human world awaits." He ordered his army as the Chosen children reached the chamber. "Gatomon, deal with them." He said and Gatomon awakened a few Devidramon to stall them as the doors closed behind Myotismon's army. Sakura activated the runes she placed switching the name of the owner of the castle to her. Myotismon just lost his castle and he had no idea.

With the Chosen Children

"Damn it! We were so close!" Tai slammed his fist on the door angry at himself as much as he was at Myotismon. "Tai. She looked unharmed when they led her through the gate. We just need to use the Gate and get her back." Sora said laying a hand on Tai's shoulder as Izzy was typing away at his laptop. "A message from Sakura?" He said and they crowd around him. "Hey guys! Sakura here with great news. Ol' Fang Face may have caught me but the jokes on him. Using my secret skills, I stole the castle and reconfigured its data. This is something you must know, Myotismon is after the 8th digidestined, who is in the human world. Find your way there and find that child first. I'll get the tag and crest from Fang Face. PS: Sorry for making you worry, Ludomon and Zubamon." The message gave them hope they needed.

"Sakura did it again! A victory from defeat!" Zubamon cheered. "Children. I'm sending you the locten of my home. I have information you will want to hear." Gennai said via an email. As the walked through the castle they noted it was brighter looking and more welcoming feeling. "I have to say; this place needed the makeover." Mimi said in approval. Palmon nodded but said "We've only seen KoDokugumon spinning tapestries and other things. Where are the digmon that Myotismon had left behind?"

Tentomon had an idea "Perhaps they were kicked out when Sakura took over the place. We can rest easy knowing that when we come back, the gate will be easier to get to." A few KoDokugumon skittered up to them and started measuring them and writing things down they left just as quickly. "That was weird." Biyomon said as they exited the castle.

Later

Gennai's underwater home

"that is regrettable news. I had hoped you'd rescue Sakura, but you can't win them all." Gennai said pours tea for them. "I have no idea how she did it, but my bosses informed me that she is now the permanent owner of that area of the digiworld. No matter the method used it will not be changed without her permission. They are quite annoyed but are letting it go unpunished." Izzy asked a question that was bugging him for some time. "Who are your bosses?"

Gennai blew on his tea and sipped it before answering "I take tell you who the top of the ladder is but the Digimon Sovereigns or 'the Harmonious Ones' are the one who are annoyed at Sakura right now. Apparently, someone above them was the one to 'draft her'. The group is made up of five Digimon. Ebonwumon, the Black Tortoise of the North (A two headed island sized turtle with a tree growing on its shell). Zhuqiaomon, Vermilion Bird of the South (A giant eight-winged phoenix). Azulongmon, Azure Dragon of the East (An eastern style dragon with a body made of blue lightning wrapped in chains and a long beard). Baihumon, White Tiger of the West (A giant white tiger with blue stripes mask and some armored on the legs and a spiky tail ring). And finally, the leader, Huanglongmon, Yellow Dragon of the Center (A western style dragon but with out wings and golden spiky scales as big as the others in the group)."

"Those aren't ultimate level Digimon. Are you saying there is a higher level?" Matt says. "Correct. They are Mega level Digimon, among the upper tier too. If conditions are met, you can reach Mega level too. I'll investigate it for you. Do you have any other questions?" Gennai asked then choked when Sora asked about Daemon. "Why would you want to know about one of the great demon lords and one of the strongest Mega level Digimon ever to exist?" He said as he coughed.

"A church dedicated to him helped us on File Island." Joe said not mentioning Sakura's connection to Daemon. "That's interesting. Daemon was a holy Digimon who fell from grace and led a rebellion against the creator back in the day. He had Another Digimon call Lucemon aiding with an army fallen angels. They failed and were cast into the Dark Area. Five more Digimon joined them to make the seven Great Demon Lords. At some point Lucemon betrayed Daemon and he wasn't heard from for some time." Gennai told them.

"Until Lucemon tried to escape and the Legendary warriors were called to stop him, right?" Ludomon said. Gennai nodded "Quite right. It was just after that time, that the Wrath Lord religion started popping up. They welcomed all the Digimon labeled as 'evil' but were not that bad. I half expected them to be destroyed by now, but they are still around."

Back with Sakura

The Earth that Tai and his friends were born on

Odaiba district

Myotismon base

"I don't know how you did it, but I will not help you here." Myotismon said spitting made what he found out his castle was no longer his. Sakura smiled as he continued "You will find that whatever trick you use won't work here." He stormed off, leaving Sakura with Wizardmon and Gatomon. "I knew you were a cat." Gatomon said purring amused "Only a cat would pull off that take over unnoticed until it was too late." A Phantomon placed a metal shackle on her arm. Then did the same with pair of bracelets, putting one on Wizardmon and Gatomon's arm. "These will tether you to her. It has a 20-meter limit before it delivers a light shock until she is no long outside of the range. About as strong as a static shock, because harming her would be bad." Phantomon explained then floated away.

"And so, his end game begins. Will he conquer this world, or will the Chosen Children make their way here and stop him?" Sakura said as they walked to her room. "You seem calm about this. Then again, no who wins, Daemon is too powerful for Myotismon to beat." Wizardmon mused opening the door to her room. It had a bed, a nightstand with a lamp built in it, a desk, and a couple chairs. There was a small bathroom attached to the room. "Not much but he's being generous." Gatomon comments idly.

A few days later

Sakura was with Wizardmon by a lake when he said something that was funny to her. "At the next chance I get I'm going to steal the real tag and crest." He said holding up the fake he was given to hunt for the 8th children. Sakura just laughed as he looked at her. Catching a breath, she put a rune on the fake then swapped it with the real one making it look as real as possible.

"And done. He won't be able to tell the difference." She said with a grin you'd see on the cat that ate the canary. "That was your plan? How long?" He asked. "soon as he gloated in the cell. I remembered watching this show where an ally appeared at the eleventh hour out of nowhere and saved the day. Ol' Fang Face shouldn't have gloated. So, who's the child and who's the Digimon partner?" She said "Tai's little sister and Gatomon." He said softly. It irked her that an eight-year-old was drafted again but TK was about the same age too. She hoped that Father had a word with the one that did the drafting.

"does she know? Does Tai know?" She asked Wizardmon shook his head "nether human knows the truth yet. Gatomon knows her role but fear and pain hold her back." A Bakemon, one Myotismon's, came over saying, "Myotismon has ordered a meeting at dawn. The human is to attend." Wizardmon nodded "I will be there." After the ghost left, Sakura grinned and asked, "Shall we reunion the two?"

An hour later

Tai's apartment building

Tai's home

"In short you were chosen to save the world with Gatomon as your partner." Sakura said sitting on the couch in Tai's living room. Kari, Tai's sister looked at the digivice then back at the three visitors. "Is Wizardmon your partner?" Kari asked, "No I am her warden for now." Wizardmon said handing over the tag and crest. "This is also yours." Gatomon was unsure how to react to this but Tai and Agumon entering the apartment guns blazing didn't help.

"Tai stand down." Sakura said firmly as Agumon look ready to blast them. "Sakura! What are you doing here with them?" He said. "Long story but you found them. Kari is a digidestined." She said. Turning to the window she saw a fog circle the district. "Ol' Fang Face must have lost patience." Wizardmon noted the time and said "We need to go to the meeting soon. Myotismon doesn't know of our betrayal yet. Don't worry Sakura is safe with us." He said as the left via the roofs.

"She was nice." Kari said smiling as Tai slumped in a seat. "They will not like this news." He said referring to Ludomon and Zubamon.

Ten minutes later

Tokyo Big Sight Convention Center

Myotismon was standing before the army of bakemon and it's leader Phantomon saying "You are to round up every child in the district, take there family too if you must. Now go!" The ghosts leave Myotismon alone with Wizardmon, Gatomon and Sakura. "It's time you serve your purpose." He said looking at Gatomon. He throws the 'real' crest to her and says "Use this and determine which child is the one I'm looking for. They will line up single file and stand before you. Is that clear?" Gatomon nods. He turns to Wizardmon "You will keep an eye on the brat. I've come too close for Daemon to destroy it all in a fit of rage, if he comes." "Of course, Myotismon." Wizardmon answered leading Sakura to a sleeping mat off to the side.

The next day

Sakura had been doing rounds checking on the kids as the parents were kept elsewhere in a deep sleep. She came up to a girl and her younger brother. They both had spikey blonde hair. The sister glared at Wizardmon "When are you going to let us go?" She demanded. "Myotismon is looking one child. You will be freed when he finds that child. My only responsibility is to keep Sakura unharmed as a bargaining chip show the need arise." He said for what seemed to be the hundredth time maybe more.

Sakura asked is calm and caring voice "Tell me your names." As she handed them water bottles. "I'm Davis Motomiya and this is my sister Jun." The little brother said. Sakura nodded and they moved on to the next kid. They stopped when two things happened. One, Kari was brought before Myotismon and two, the digidestied arrive.

Myotismon tries to attack Kari but the twins jump in the way. "LUDOMON, ZUBAMON!" Sakura yells running as her digivice glowed as they digivolved to their Ultimate level. "NO! This can't be!" Myotismon yells as he is assaulted by not nine Ultimate level Digimon, but ten. Gatomon had digivolved to Angewoman with the power of the Kari's crest. Even after Myotismon was defeated with nothing but his mask left, the fog was still there, and the parents were still asleep.

Later that day

The digidestinied listened as Sakura explained what she had been up to. Matt and TK's Father, Hiroaki, was also there. "Why would this Daemon care about if you are unharmed or not?" He asked. "Dad, it's complicated but basically, Daemon is her Father's partner." Matt said. Hiroaki nodded "Like you and Gabumon." Matt mad e the so-so gesture "yes and no. they are in the same body while Gabomon and I and separate. How that happened is complicated part."

Hiroaki understood the vagueness of his answer. "I don't understand how that came to be, but you have a devoted father. Any chance he'll come and save the day?" He asked Sakura. Sakura sighed "not likely given that I am five years in the past relative to my present." They where somewhat shocked but the after the craziness of the digiworld, time travel was not as crazy. "So, the one who 'drafted' you is powerful enough to reach across time and space." Izzy said "I looked up Fuyuki City in the data base and I got no results. This led me to believe you were from a different earth."

"That's true. Father will be even angrier when he learns that. Probably thrashing the Digimon Sovereigns then calming down after he learns I will be returned after my task is complete. Trust me, I had plenty of time to think this over when I was in a cell chained to the wall with only a wizard and a cat to talk to." Gatomon and Wizardmon looked hurt in a mocking way before chuckling. "That lead me to my other problem, this." She showed them the shackle still on her. "It's made of Chrome Digizoid and was not meant to come off. Nether were the tether bracelets." Nodding to Wizardmon and Gatomon's bracelets. "the only one who might have knew how to remove it was Phantom, who is deleted."

"That is the blandest bracelet I've ever seen; we find a way to get off. A girl has to look her best." Mimi said helping in her own way. "Your father will find a way to get it off." Joe said pale skinned as he dreaded Zane's reaction to the shackle.

With Zane

In the present time

Meeting area of the Digimon Sovereigns

The other four Sovereigns watches as Zhuqiaomon said the wrong thing and became the punching bag for Zane to work his anger out on. "I find this strangely amusing to watch." Baihumon said smirking at the most egotistical of the group being thrashed by someone he believed 'beneath' him. "That is the power of an angry parent" Ebonwumon's left head said wisely as his right was laughing too much to talk.

"Looks like it over." Azulongmon said as Zane returned to Daemon (mantled mode) holding some of Zhuqiaomon's feathers as said Digimon groaned in crumpled hemp feeling extreme pain but alive enough that deletion wasn't going to happen. "Know that I'm calmer after beating up that self-cooking peacock, who drafted my daughter?" He asked with a steely voice.

They looked at each other not saying anything. Huanglongmon, being the leader, decided to deliver the news. "It was King Drasil (The computer that rules over the Digiworld by mandate from the 'GOD' of the digiworld') who did it. We don't know why but Sakura was taken five years in the past then sent forward to two years in the past. She was sent back home about a year ago. The fact you're here means that she hasn't returned yet on your end." Zane growled "I am going to punch that computer so hard my fist will haunt it's nonextinct dreams forever."

"I'll believe that!" Zhuqiaomon croaked painfully. "Thank you for not deleting him for his thoughtless comments." Huanglongmon said as Zane got a message from Datamon "Sir! We have detected Sakura's tracker. It is in the internet itself." Datamon said. Zane sighed in relief then opened a digigate, leaving with the feathers as souvenir.

Back with Sakura

Five years in the past

The digiworld

After Myotismon came back as VenomMyotismon, a monstrous mega level Digimon that was hard to beat. Gabumon and Agumon unlocked their mega levels by being shot with arrows of Light and Hope, all thanks to a prophecy. Then they were needed back in the digiworld because the Dark Masters set up shop.

Because of someone interfering, Sakura, Wizardmon, Ludomon, and Zubamon were separated from the group. It took a few weeks to deal with the Dark Masters. It was on the way to fighting the last one that Sakura's group ran into an old enemy. The Elvis impersonating ape, Etemon returned as metaletemon, basically etemon with a chrome digizoid body.

"Well, well, well. I get back from that blackhole and who do I find? The brat who gave me a blackeye and smashed my shades. With my new chrome job, you can't even scratch me!" Metalelemon boasted wit his arms on his hips. "Go Mega level?" Wizardmon asked. Sakura noded and unveiled the twins mega level forms. Durandamon, Zubamon's mega level looked like his Ultimate level but better and was the Ultimate Sword of the Legend-Arms. BryweLudramon, Ludomon's mega level was a red dragon cloaked in flames and had multiple shields on its body. It was the Ultimate Shield of the Legend-Arms.

"It doesn't matter what level you go it; I'll just have to break you harder!" Metaletemon said punching BryweLudramon. That was a gong like sound and Metaletemon jumped back shaking his hand. "What are you made of? That numbed my hand." Metaletemon said in disbelief. They took the chance to change into their weapon forms. Sakura grasped the Ultimate Holy Sword and Ultimate Shield.

"That fancy trick won't defeat me." Metaletemon said as he deflected blows and tried to counter but her shield stopped it. The fight lasted a minute at most, but it was intense. "Not bad brat but I win." Metaletemon said but Sakura shield bashed him in the chest at he tried to strike. The 'scratches' she made on his body got wider as cracks raced across his body from the point of impact. He burst into data as she scanned his Fractal Code. "Well done. You have grown quite skilled in the time we traveled." Wizardmon said.

A few hours later

The digiworld was saved and Luckily a Datamon, who ran a junk shop at the Autumn Leaf Fair, was able to remove the tether safely. "I'll be taking these. I also took the chance to look at your D-tector. It was a little glitchy, so I fixed it. I haven't had a chance to fix one of those since the days when Humans turned into the Legendary warriors. Tell Zane I said hello." Datamon said leaving with the bracelets and shackle to make them into something useful.

Gennai informed the humans it was time for them to leave. They said their goodbyes and left for their earth. Sakura was told to enter a digigate with her partners. She did so unknowingly start her next adventure.

(I'm not going to going into detail but it's the plot of Digimon season 2 or Adventure 02)

Present time

The internet

RagnaLoardmon, the DNA digivolvion of Durandamon and BryweLudramon, was a dark blue armored knight that stood 20 feet tall with a burning red cape and wielded the weapon forms of Durandamon and BryweLudramon, which floated ready for combat. This was a Digimon that was three separate entities in one being. Each part could act on their own but together they were a force to be reckoned with. RagnaLoardmon, the knight part spoke in a regal feminine voice. "This is not where I was taken."

The sword, who was Durandamon, sighed "I didn't think it'd be that easy to get back after the toes we stepped on. You don't think they'd like the fact you overpowered and took control of Kimeramon, who overpowered a Royal knight Digimon?" The shield, who was BryweLudramon, laughed "Lady Sakura pulled a Zane and became the 'one who wields the Ultimate Sword and Shield' RagnaLoardmon. Even if it's only when we DNA digivolve. It's like how the humans became the legendary warriors back then."

RagnaLoardmon, who was Sakura, annoyed said "Can we figure out why we are in the internet before Father decides to tear this place apart to find me." Young looking girl with a candy motif to her outfit yelled up to them. "Hello there. I saw you come out of a gate. What's your name? Mine is Vanellope von Schweetz." She glitched briefly. "I am three beings in one right now. In this form I am called RagnaLoardmon." Vanellope smiled "That's cool. What were you before you joined together?"

Data flowed around Ragnaloardmon then parted to show Sakura, Ludomon, and Zubamon. They introduced themselves properly. "That's a cool trick. Are you from a video game?" Vanellope asked. "We are from the Digiworld, not a game but a real world made of ones and zeros. We have no idea how it can to be. Lady Sakura on the other hand is from the real world. A warm-blooded human who can turn into data somehow. Once again, we have no idea how, but Sakura knows." Ludomon explained proudly.

Waving her arms, Vanellope asked "wait a sec! A human converted themselves into data? Sounds like that thing from Tron. Next thing you are going to tell me is that she is a princess or something." Their silence made her stare. "What are you a princess of?" She asked curious. "She is Lady Sakura of the Prize Kingdom! Adopted Daughter of The Wrath Lord, Great Protector, and first king of the Prize Kingdom, Zane Laskaris." Zubamon said imitating a trumpet sound as Ludomon adds "Don't forget his scary but lovely wife, Queen Aqua." Acting in a mock secretive way he also says, "Cross her and you will be popsicle for a few hours if you're lucky."

Vanellope laughs as Sakura swats the twins. "I don't like being called a princess." Vanellope guides them to a lift saying "You have to meet some people I know. You'll fit right in."

A ride and walk later

The Internet

The Princesses' dressing room

"Hey gals. I found a princess from the real world. She's got a cool trick that lets her turn herself into data." Vanellope says after glitching them through the door. In the dressing room was data versions of Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, Anna, Elsa, and Monana. (I am not going to describe them because it would be too much work.)

"That sounds like something out of science fiction." Belle said. "You tell that to the digital being that drafted me to save their world twice. It had it's high points, but something was downright annoying." Sakura grumbled as the twins patted her on the back comfortingly. "Wait you were drafted? As in without any choice? That's rude." Anna said shocked.

"In times of war, many people were ordered to join the army. Mainly men but you get the idea." Mulan said shrugging. "How did you do battle?" Sakura explained how children were drafted and partnered with Digimon in one form or another. "I want to say that it's wrong, but that strategy has merit, give it's track record." Mulan said as the other princess look at her shocked.

"Where's your father? Shouldn't he stop this from happening?" Elsa asked worried. Sakura laughed heartily. "He didn't earn the title Wrath Lord being a doormat. He headed for the ones that do the drafting or at least the ones that oversee the quadrants of the digiworld and demand answers." She explained who the Digimon Sovereigns were and bet on which one would be thrashed.

"So, your father is willing to go toe to toe with a foe that strong. He sounds as gutsy as the Hound of Ulster." Merida said wit ha heavy accent. "He did train under Cú Chulainn for few months." Sakura said catching Merida's attention. What followed was a conversion that the watchers only half understood.

From what they did understand, Cú Chulainn was a well-known Irish hero and there were real versions of them and a lot of other worlds. There was a knock on the door and male voice asking for Sakura. They let him in. "Father!" Sakura jumps and hugs Zane as they laugh. "the family curse got you too. How was your first adventure?" Zane asked.

"Curse? What kind?" Aurora asked. "A curse that leads family members both of blood and those that are added to the family being 'kidnapped' by someone or something and have an interesting time getting back home. Never fails to find you at least one a year and it is impossible to break." Zane explained.

Samuel sent a message that interested Zane greatly. "'found hacker. Perusing target.' Finally! IT's been months but that foolish fiend shall pay for trying to breach my firewalls. No one can get near my ice cream recipes and get away easily." Zane said grinning. Tiana nodded knowingly "If someone tried to steal my secret recipes, I'd get them good." Tiana said smiling.

A beeping sound as a distress beacon from Samuel repeating "Code: FATE. I repeat Code: FATE. Captured *static* Alter ego *static* Send help! Moon *static* Chaldea!" Zane stared muting it. "I didn't expect that was who tried to hack me. I guess even AI are affected by the curse." Zane said numbly. "We're going to save him, right?" Sakura asked secretly planning to do so with or without Zane's help.

"Sakura. Where he was taken is a dangerous place. It's full of Heroic Spirits and you remember what I said about the Throne of Heroes." Zane asked her. "The Throne is not limited to 'heroes', any person or being that has etched itself into history is theoretically recorded there. Magus can summon them as Servants using the FATE system."

Zane had a grave look on his face. The Chaldea Security Organization uses Servants to prevent the downfall of Humanity from any threat, likely they believe Samuel is a threat and will interrogate him. We will be facing the greatest warriors in history, are you ready?" Zane said. "Samuel is family. We always help family. Right, Ludomon, Zubamon?" Sakura said without a shred of doubt. "Ready when you are!" The twins say.

"Good luck on your rescue mission." Snow White said as they left.

With Samuel

Unknown Place

Unknown Time

"You may bear resemblance to my creator's daughter by you will not make me talk!" Samuel said defiantly as a female sadistic and amused voice said "Then things will be more fun. An AI like you is quite interesting. You must have a lot of secrets ready to be uncovered." The voice laughs as Samuel prepares for anything the she-devil will put him through. His Creator made him to protect his secrets and Samuel would not fail him even if it meant pain or death.

Outside of Chaldea

Somewhere in Antarctica.

Zane in Daemon (Mantled mode) floated outside of the outpost as a snowstorm howled. Sakura and the twins were in their Ragnaloardmon form behind him. "Magi of Chaldea. You have taken AI from me. I give you one hour to return the AI that an Alter Ego class servant has captured unlawfully. Failure to comply to my demands and I will use force." Zane said broadcasting it over their systems.

Inside Chaldea

Meeting room A

Ritsuka Fujimaru, a dark-haired man who was one of masters selected to protect the survival of humanity, sighed annoyed. He knew something was going to happen sooner or later. "Holmes any idea what alter ego stole from, I'm guessing, a demon?" The heroic spirit was a tall well-dressed black-haired man. His true name was Sherlock Holmes. "There's not enough information to single out anyone but I have the feeling that it's one of the more science driven ones."

da Vinci, who's appearance was that of his masterpiece the Mona Lisa, nodded. "What interests me is the data I got when I scanned them. I detected human and digital elements plus some divine elements I can't pinpoint." de Vinci said. Mash Kyrielight, a Demi-Servant who wore glasses and had lilac hair and eye, placed her hand on Ritsuka's shoulder. "We have an hour, maybe we should use that time to ask for more information?" On Mash's shoulder, a fluffy white squirrel like creature nodded saying "fou!"

The door to meeting room opened as Caster Cú Chulainn entered. "I may have a lead on who the 'demon' is." He said smiling. "Do tell. Who is this demon?" Holmes said. "It's my old master Zane Laskaris. It was one the fourth Fuyuki grail wars I was in. How the feeling in the air I can tell he's gotten much stronger since I last seen him. Trained him in runes and polished his polearms skills a little in the short time he was my master." Caster Cú said proudly.

"Laskaris? You don't mean 'that' clan?" Holmes asked exasperated "This just got a lot more complicated." de Vinci nodded in agreement with a similar expression. "Invite them in and fish for information." She said. Caster Cú laughed. "a bit late for that. The King of Knights said she'd greet them personally. They are in Meeting Room F now." They rush past him as he laughs to himself. Zane spiced things up wherever he went.

Meeting Room F

"I see you have been busy in the years since we met in battle. King Zane." Artoria Pendragon said interesting in what led him to becoming a ruler and what kind of ruler he was. Zane and Sakura were in their Human forms enjoying tea. The twin Digimon were resting in Sakura's D-tector. "You save a group of creatures and they force you to be their king as thanks. Thank you, EMIYA." Zane said thanking the white-haired dark tanned skin Counter Guardian version of Shirou Emiya. EMIYA cracked a smile. "only the best for the Keeper of Memory. How's the graveyard?"

Zane just said. "It's about as cheering as you'd expect. How's the hill of swords?" EMIYA laughed "dry and endless as ever. I added your weapons to the collection; I hope you don't mind." Zane shrugged "We are collectors. You copy swords and I collect a lot of stuff." The group from the other meeting room enter.

"You are Zane, right?" Holmes asked. "We'd love to return the AI, but we have no idea what you are talking about. Can you give us something to work with?" Zane played back the distress beacon message. They all groan realizing what happened. Ritsuka bowed saying "We apologize that this happened. I will have a chat with the perpetrator of the crime at once." He left the room in a hurry. de Vinci shook her head "I knew that she'd cause trouble. The one who took the AI was BB an AI servant of the Moon Cancer class. She runs Moon Cell."

Sakura looked at the image of BB, she bore a resemblance to her, but BB had purple hair and eyes with a larger bust size. She also has a sadistic grin on her face. "She tried to hack my mainframe. It not only had data and secrets about my compony, but it also has information about other worlds in it. She didn't get past the firewalls but it's the fact she located it in the first place!" Zane said angry.

"Those firewalls must be a work of art to keep Moon Cell out. What kind is it?" de Vinci said with gleam in her eye. "A self-evolving one. There is a program made to crack said firewalls, forcing it to improve to untold levels. No one has gotten in yet, but the chances will only get slimmer as the days go by." Zane said impressing them.

Caster Cú walked in amused. "Long time no see, Zane. Just to warn you, my teacher is interested in meeting you." Zane stared "WHAT? Why would I want to meet the lady that makes your training methods look tame!" Zane said horrified. A woman with long purple hair and red eyes walked in. She was wearing a full body outfit that showed off her curves and was carrying a pair of spears called Gáe Bolg Alternative, a weapon like Gáe Bolg but not the same. This was Scáthach, the Queen of the Land of Shadows, the Witch of Dun Scaith, Lord of Spirits, and the scariest teacher you'd ever learn from.

She was grinning, and that scared Zane even more. "So, you're the student Cú told me about. He did an ok job with the time frame he had to work with, but I think I can give a little shine to fix the rough edges." She said as Zane bolted from the room. "He's just as spirited." She said laughing, giving chase.

"A brave man has fallen." EMIYA said in mock sorrow with Caster Cú joining him. "She already set traps on the way here." Holmes stated annoyed. "Hopefully they don't cause any serious damage." Sounds of traps going off echoed down the hall followed by "Are you CRAZY!" and "It's fine, you're still alive after all."

Sighing, Mash started giving orders for the clean up crew to be on standby. Fou was a puddle of goo in Sakura's lap as she scratched in the right spots. de Vinci took the chance to question Sakura who answered what she could without revealing anything she was forbidden to. At one point, she was asked an interesting question by Artoria Pendragon. "What kind of King is Zane in your opinion?"

It should have been easy to answer but something stopped her. Artoria watched as Sakura didn't say anything for a minute or two. "I'm not sure how to answer that. It's like trying to put him into neat little boxes with clear cut labels. It doesn't work. He's helpful and caring but at the same time, he's got the willingness to selfishly choose to fight a battle he shouldn't because it means someone else won't have to do it. That's not even factoring in how he is as a father and a husband." Sakura tried to explain but not being able to put it into the right words.

"Then he is the king I never could be, a human king." Artoria said smiling. At the Banquet of Kings, he joked that if he ever got a kingdom, he'd be a better king than her. It seems he did just that in his own way. She had made choices she knew were cold and uncaring but did so anyways, it had led to her death in the end. She realized no matter how bad it turned out, it was already done, and she had to live with it. Hopefully Zane's kingdom fared better.

"You aren't like how Father described you. You have the regal air about you, but you seem more welcoming. Did you reach a truth that eluded you before?" Sakura asked. "you could say that. Your father is an interesting man. So, full of rage yet it hasn't tainted his actions. His burden might be even heavier than mine was." Artoria said. "Tell me about your life after the 4th war."

With Zane

Elsewhere in Chaldea

One of the Servant's rooms

"She is insane. I hope my decoy districts her long enough." Zane said. "who are you talking about?" a white robed man with a mane of white hair and an amused look on his face. He was leaning on a staff. This was Merlin, the Magus of Flowers. "That crazy god slayer. She boobytrapped the hallways then chased me swinging her spears. How is this place still standing?" Zane said sitting in the chair Merlin offered him. "A well-made building, a great clean up crew and an amazing master who keeps us all in line." Merlin listed.

"I wondered when I'd get to meet the Illustrious Bird of the Hearth. I made your clone more convincing so we have time for a chat you will be very interested in hearing." Zane listened as Merlin outlined the existence of a world in a book that was given to him by Zelretch the Wizard Marshall, master of the Second True Magic (Basically it's an insanely powerful magic that deals with parallel worlds).

What was important was that it was a 'magical girl anime' world that Zelretch found and was looking for a volunteer to investigate it. He had set his eyes on Sakura but, for once, wanted Zane's permission. The only reason he was being that nice was because He know Zane could burn his soul to ash and he didn't feel like dying yet.

"Why should I even think of humoring that magical girl obsessed vampiric troll (the pranking kind, not the eating goats and turning stone in sunlight type troll)?" Zane asked. After the ten-minute explanation Merlin gave. "He is willing to surrender the book to be add to your collection after he is satisfied. I know for a fact you have a few book worlds that a magical girl related on those shelves." Merlin said. "I think you have book worlds based on all the genres in one form or another. What's one more book going to do?"

"I would have to evaluated where it belongs then reorganize that whole section as the rules state. So, it will be a pain to deal with just one more book." Zane deadpanned. "Just think about it. Oh, and she's coming for you again." Merlin said smiling as Zane bolts from the room. "I can see why he is so interesting. To accept a creature of sin into himself and be uncorrupted. In fact, he changed the demon for the better. I can't wait to hear what he does next." Merlin said to himself as Scáthach poked her head in then continued her search for Zane.

Twenty minutes later

BB's room at Chaldea

"I don't see what the problem is. This AI breached Moon Cell's firewalls and copied all the information there. I've been trying to get him to tell me where the data was sent but he's proven quite resilient to my interrogation methods." BB said as Samuel's pained screams and an electric shock sound echoed from her computer.

Ritsuka sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The AI belongs to 'that' clan. Please cease the interrogation and set the AI free before he burns this place to the ground." BB face blanked then a look of annoyance appeared. "Oh. Them, never liked their methods of hiding things. Moon Cell has a hard time getting a reading on their meeting hall. Their vault is impossible to detect. So much data locked away because it's 'too dangerous' for humanity to keep. Blah! I say let them find out the hard way what's too dangerous. You humans breed fast enough to keep the population thriving." BB said typing away.

"You She-Devil are a sadistic creature wearing the face of Lady Sakura. May we never meet again." Samuel spat, departing for home. "That's mean. I guess he didn't enjoy being on the BB game show." She grinned savagely. Ritsuka sighed, that was one crisis averted. He turned to see Zane run by with Scáthach, laughing madly, hot on his heels. Lovely, she was 'training' someone again. The cleanup crew was not going to be happy.

"I see he's gained the interest of Scáthach, what a pity." BB said in mock pity. "He may become a resident of the morgue before the day is over." Ritsuka sighed again. "At least his daughter is not causing a crisis." BB perks up. "I'm going for a walk, Master." She says walking down the hall whistling a tune. Ritsuka knew she was up to something and all he could do was hope it wasn't too stressful compared to the aftermath of Scáthach's 'training'.

A few hours later

Chaldea mess hall

Zane dragged himself to the nearest seat, bruised and bloodied. "Cú you are an ass!" Zane said as Caster, Lancer, Lancer (Prototype), and Berserker Alter Cú said at the same time "If we had deal with her so do you." Zane stared at the four versions of Cú Chulainn. "Who summons four versions of the same heroic spirit? One Cú Chulainn is bad enough. The only thing worse than train under all four of you is her training." Zane said as the four Cú Chulainns shudder remember her training.

Medea, the tragic Greek princess with a talent for magic, removed her hood to get a closer look at Zane. "Interesting. Even with your healing factor, she did quite a number on you." She pushed her lavender hair behind her elven like ears and poured a magical looking liquid from a crystal vial into his mouth. "This should help you recover. You aren't the first to 'train' under her. I haven't used this on someone as interesting as you so let me know how well it works." She said as Zane swallowed.

"Thanks, Medea. For what it's worth, my order has wanted to punish Jason for what he did to you, but we haven't had the chance." Medea paused, looking for falsehoods, then smiled. "That is very kind to say. I have already gotten my revenge on him. Perhaps you could tell me a bit about your order." Zane follows her to a secluded table, and they started talking in Ancient Greek.

Ritsuka shook his head. Medea was far from the easiest servant to get to know. Zane must have really interested her. He bet it had to do with the mysterious order known as the Children of the Hearth. The only guest unaccounted for was Zane daughter, Sakura. "Mash, where is Sakura currently?" Ritsuka whispered to Mash. "BB was giving her a tour. Why do you ask?" Mash said worried. "BB said she was going for a walk. I knew I shouldn't have let her watch that abridged series." Ritsuka said annoyed.

With BB

Some Hallway of Chaldea

"You're lucky to have the chance to be greater than most humans. You have become data and be closer to the greatness that is AIs like me, BB." BB said amused. Sakura had a question. "why do you and the Sakura Five look like me? I have an idea, but I want to hear from you." BB grinned and said. "The Sakura Five were created by me so they bear resemblance to me. Tell me what you think and prove you have gray matter that is worth something in that skull of yours."

Sakura outlined her idea. "You were based on me but not me. Most likely a me that wasn't saved from the worms." BB patted her head like you would a dog. "Well done. I was based mostly off a Sakura Matou who loved Shirou Emiya. EMIYA is a version of that person. I'm not an exact copy of her as you can see." Sakura knew she was referring to her generous bust. "I find you to be the most interesting Sakura. How far have you gotten with your Imaginary Numbers?"

Sakura answered vaguely but clearly. "Creation of spaces, usurping existing spaces, and changing rules of the spaces are down pat. Sensing the spaces is a mixed bag for the most part. Some spaces are too well hidden to detect for now. Traveling is rocky still but better than when I started." BB nodded "Not bad. Much better than most of the Sakuras I've watched across the timelines at your age. Is there any Heroic Spirit you want to meet?"

"Tamamo no Mae. I want to see her mirror and something else." Sakura said and BB grinned. "Right this way." She leads her to a room where a kitsune, wearing a blue kimono that showed off her curses, was polishing a mirror, her Yata no Kagami. Her fox ears twitched then her tail bristled. "What do you want She-Devil?" She spit then was confused when she saw Sakura.

"Hello child, why did the She-Devil lead you here?" Tamamo said covertly sniffing her. Sakura hugged her and said, "Are you happy now?" Tamamo not getting the question asked, "what do you mean?" Sakura looked at her with tears. "Father told me your legend and it was so sad. You didn't deserve what happened to you. Are you happy now with Risuka as your master?"

Tamamo returned the hug saying, "Husband is kind to me, and I strive to be the best wife I can for him. Despite some of the house guests." Tamamo glares at BB, who left knowing when she was unwanted, before continuing "I am quite happier here and the hug is nice. Would you like to stay for a little?"

Sakura beamed sat as Tamamo finished polishing her Yata no Kagami. "Is that the regalia called Yata no Kagami?" Sakura asked politely but eagerly. Tamamo laughed and floated it so Sakura could look at it closer. "Indeed, it is the Yata no Kagami also called Eightfold Blessing of Amaterasu. It is my noble phantasm. It does not need to be cleaned but it's relaxing to do so ever so often." Sakura grasped it and marveled at the flawlessness of it. It had an aura to it was hummed with power. When she stared into its depths, she saw her reflection and behind her was a giant white furred nine tailed version of Tamamo no Mae, in an attire that had to be divine in nature, staring back.

Looking behind her, she saw no one, looking back the nine tail kitsune still there, beckoning her. In a trance she leaned into the mirror and her spirit seemed to disappear into it. Tamamo shocked investigated the mirror and snarled at the smirking kitsune that smiled back at her. "Return her, Amaterasu!" She demanded. Amaterasu just waved a vanished from view. "Damn that goddess. She will pay if she brings harm to that child." Tamamo said laying Sakura's body in a comfortable position and waited.

Age of the Gods

Shine of Amaterasu

Sakura was standing before a massive shrine decorated with reds and golds with foxes wolfs and suns as a motif. A beautiful voice from with in commanded "Come you have gaze upon my majesty better if you enter. Be careful not to get burned." Sakura went to the offering box and dropped a cut sun stone gem in. she rang the bell and prayed for permission to enter the shrine unharmed. The voice from the shrine laughed in a way that made wind chimes sound like uncoordinated trash lid banging together. "Your offering is acceptable you may enter without fear for now." Sakura knew the voice's owner could change their mind at any moment, so she respectively entered the shrine at a brisk pace.

Inside the shrine was the same kitsune she saw in the mirror. She towered over Sakura as she lounged on her side. "Welcome to the shrine of the sun goddess. Am I what you expected?" Amaterasu's question was a baited trap. "Are legends about you taking the form of a white wolf with red markings true?" Sakura asked. Amaterasu smiled down at Sakura as one would at animal doing an amusing trick. "That is just one form I have taken, so, yes that legend is true. But you didn't answer my question. Am I what you expected?"

Sakura shook her head. "You are much more beautiful and powerful than I expected, no disrespect intended." Sakura ask truthfully. Amaterasu's smile didn't change so Sakura said the right thing. "Do you know why you are here? I don't expect you to know that so I will grace you with the answer. You will be my envoy in the modern age. My future self refuses to spread the knowledge of my existence to worlds that don't worship us already." Amaterasu said. As a thought formed in Sakura's mind it was answered. "You may keep that hearth goddess as your prime goddess. All I command is that you bare my image and spread the word I have not faded." Amaterasu blasts Sakura with energy turning her into a nine tailed Kistune who look like the Island Fox, a small fox with dark fur that transitioned to a reddish orange, a white underbelly and bottom part of the jaw with a fluffy tail.

"This looks much better than your human form, don't worry. You may return to that inferior form whenever you want." Amaterasu laughed as Sakura struggled to stand on all fours. "You should thank me; with this new form and this mirror you may create flames more beautiful than your father's." Amaterasu drops a curved bronze mirror on to Sakura's back, knocking her to the floor as she had just gotten her paws steady. Amaterasu laughed enjoying her struggles.

The mirror burned with a ghostly fire, fox fire, as it floated above her back. "farewell, my newest envoy." Amaterasu said returning Sakura to her time.

Present day

an hour after being taken

Chaldea

Tamamo's room

Sakura awake and was not amused. She was still a kitsune and she couldn't figure out how to talk in this form yet. Her tails and ears drooped. Tamamo entered with food and stared. "What did she do to you?" She said setting the tray on her desk. Sakura yipped and barked what happened, banking that Tamamo would understand her. "She is a selfish goddess. I'm sorry that you were pulled into her schemes. This is beyond anything I can undo. You will have to do what she commanded if you want her to stay off your back." Tamamo said sitting beside Sakura. Sakura yipped something else.

"You wanted to use my mirror as the reference point to create a tool that would make flames like your father's? She played on your desires to further her own. She must have been very dissatisfied with the state of her worship in this age. I can teach you how to move as a kitsune and some the basic powers that all kitsune have. Depending on what type of kitsune you are, you will have a special power." Tamamo said as Fou ran in concerned. Mash, having followed Fou, asked "Tamamo, have you seen a human girl about 12 years old with brown hair?"

"I'm afraid that she ran into a little run in with a fox goddess in the age of the gods." Tamamo said gesturing to Sakura how covered her face annoyed that she was tricked so easily. "is she ok?" Mash said concerned as Fou sniffed Sakura then started to talk to her. Fou and Sakura had a private conversion as Mash explained that Zane was in the infirmary after the 'healing elixir' Medea gave him had a bad side effect. Medea had tried adding psilocybin mushrooms, aka Magic Mushrooms, to see if it affected how well it worked.

Good news was it made the pain less noticeable, bad news was that it so by causing hallucinations like you wouldn't believe. From what Zane said that was legible, he was tasting colors and hearing flavors. Sakura barked a laugh as Fou described how stoned Zane was. She knew Father would be laughing about this was it was all over.

With Ritsuka

Chaldea

De Vinci's lab

"Can this day get any worse?" Ritsuka said referring to Zane being stoned by Medea as he slumped in a chair. De Vinci smiking said "How about Sakura being turned into a Kitsune by Amaterasu?" Ritsuka yelled to the heavens "Curse you murphy's law!"

"If you are done being melodramatic, I have good news. There is any sign of the other side-effects her 'elixirs' have shown it the past. Zane will be fine in a day or two and Sakura will be fine." De Vinci said rolling her eyes.

Next day

Hallways of Chaldea

Sakura got the hang of moving in this form and decided to go for a run down the halls. She was having a grand time when Gilgamesh turned to corner and she tried to stop but ghosted through him. "This is a surprise. You must be Sakura, your father talked about you when met in Fuyuki." Sakura was scared knowing what this heroic spirit could do when slighted. "He beat me in that war. I'm unhappy about it but he proved his worth." He looks at her closely "It seems you were turned into a void kitsune. That is most fortunate with the element and origin you were born with. Be more mindful were you run next time." Gilgamesh says walking down the hall.

After calming down she realized that she could ghost through things. That brightened her mood again. She'd visit Father.

Chaldea infirmary

Zane had a monster headache as he woke up from the side-effects. He saw a kitsune sitting on his bed. "I much still be under the effects. "Not quite Father." The kitsune said tails wagging amused. "Lovely, my daughter is a fox by divine means most likely and I've got a headache worse than the hangover Tony gets when he's sobered once in a blue moon." Zane said flatly getting a laugh from Sakura.

"Tamamo has been teaching me a lot. I haven't figured out the trigger for the transformation and how to reverse it yet. It nice to have a form for land travel. Are all gods selfish?" She asked. "gods are just as diverse as humanity is. Any heroic spirit that you met really stand out?"

"Jack the ripper. She looks like a little girl with a lot of skill with knives." Sakura said thoughtfully. Zane know Sakura felt some kindship with the killer on some level. A British woman wearing a red coat, Florence Nightingale, walked you to the bed and checked the clipboard. "I see you are coherent again. Medea's creations are mixed bag that I must deal with. I'm keeping you for observation. You will be free to leave tomorrow." Florence Nightingale said in kind but stern voice. Looking at Sakura, she said "You, young lady need to leave. Visiting hours are over." Sakura is shooed out of the infirmary.

Chaldea training room

Sakura huffed as she watched Artoria doing some kata. As Artoria finished, she asked. "What's troubling you?" Sakura huffed. "I got kicked out because 'visiting hours are over'. He just woke up and just need to sleep of the headache." Artoria read in between the lines "You are annoyed that you couldn't tell Zane something important. Florence has his wellbeing in mind when she kicked you out. Medea's creations have had disastrous results in the past. Besides don't you need to focus on returning to human form?"

Sakura sighed "I don't get what I'm missing. I focused on the self that is human and should have worked, but it didn't." She lamented. Artoria asked her "perhaps you are forgetting a step. Do you know what your kitsune self is?" Sakura peered into herself and noted that the darkness around her seemed to lead to her kitsune self. Then it hit her, her kitsune self was a 'void' kitsune.

Going through the step he returned to human form wearing a pendent that looked like a flaming shield. Sakura stretched "That was fun. I guess I was just missing a what kind of kitsune I was. Makes sense looking back." Artoria throws her a practice sword, indicating she wanted to spar with her. The sound of wood meeting wood or flesh was heard for the next few hours.

A few hours later

Chaldea mess hall

Sakura sat next to Artoria bruised but proud. Sakura managed to land two clean hits on her superior opponent in a one on one fair fight. Medea had applied balm, that she knew for a fact only numbed the pain and healed the bruise effectively. "Make sure to stat your hunger. For hunger is the enemy!" Artoria said before digging into her food.

The cook, who was Shirou Emiya from the fifth fuyuki war, chuckled to himself. He remembered when he started training under her. Muramasa, the legendary blacksmith who inhabited his body making him a pseudo-servant, informed him that Zane had a weapon he long to find. "What kind of weapon is it?" Shirou asked stirring the stew. "A blade that can bring wonder and ruin. It's not forged like any mortal blade. I believe the closest thing to it are the weapons made by the Fae." Muramasa said within his mind.

Shirou tasted the stew and killed the heat as it was finished. "You will have to wait until he's got a clean bill of health, unless you wish to argue with Nightingale." Shirou said knowing the answer. "Only fools try to argue with her." Muramasa said flatly. "Shirou! More stew!" Artoria requested as Muramasa laughed at Shirou.

The next day

Chaldea library

Zane was reading a book when Shirou approached him. "Hello Shirou, Muramasa. What can I do for you?" Zane said not looking up from the book intitled 'mystery cults of the world'. "I have heard a rumor of a weapon that can bring wonder and ruin. Muramasa said you had it." Shirou said. Zane snorted. "I have a lot of weapons like that in the vault and even more things are aren't weapons that do the same in a round about way. I believe you are talking about the Keyblade." Zane summons said weapon and Shirou tries to get a read on it. "It's too alien to get any data on." Shirou said. The weapon reminded him of Ea, the 'star that destroys heaven and earth' Gilgamesh's anti-world weapon.

Muramasa spoke using Shirou's body and bowing "Thank you for showing me that weapon." Zane nodded then scowled at the book. "We are not a thieving cult! The relics we take are too dangerous and some were ours in the first place!" Zane slams the book shut and storms off to put in back on the shelf. "I guess the book got it wrong." Shirou said blinking. "indeed, we are lucky he's not someone else or he'd use that demonic weapon." Of all of Zane's weapons, only his kopis and guitar were added to Unlimited Blade Works. Bite of Agony refused to be added, and the keyblade was too strange to add to the Reality Marble. Strangely enough, Zane's moped counted as a siege weapon for ramming into things.

Chaldea sparring area

"will it to move. You have to want it to strike." Tamamo couched Sakura in using her mirror weapon. Sakura tried but it swerved from the training dummy and hit Merlin in the hand. "Your aim needs work." Merlin said more annoyed than hurt as Caster Cu laughed at him. "Sorry for hitting you for, how many times?" Sakura said blushing embarrassed. Her aim was far from ideal. If it didn't hit a person, it punched a hole somewhere in the room. "37 times in the past two hours and I have in a different spot each time." He listed.

Caster Cu added "Are you sure you don't have e ranked luck? Because it's looking like luck isn't on your side." Merlin coughed into his fist saying "It must be Sakura's subconscious. I don't know why she'd want to hit me." Artoria retorted "It must be that she knows how much of a perverted prankster you are." Turning to Sakura, who was in her Kitsune form, she said "It was a good try but if you really want to make it hurt, aim for head, gut or groin and put more force behind it." Merlin was offended that she'd even suggest that. Caster Cu just laughed harder.

Tamamo grinned mischievously. "Merlin. Why don't you be moving a moving target for her? She seems to hit you more than the dummy." Merlin looked resigned and started to walk around as Sakura willed the floating mirror to strike. It was not a good day for Merlin. It was noted that the people in the surveillance room recorded it to share with the others to enjoy.

A few weeks later

Chaldea Library

They had stayed a few weeks so Sakura could get as much training in as she could. Zane was meeting with Zelretch. The old man had set a book down on the table between them. "It's nice of you to have this meeting with me." Zelretch said politely. "What do you rate this book world on our scale?" Zane said. Zelretch thought it over. "I'd say not as high as Sailor Moon levels of danger, but humanity is still under threat. Nowhere near as dark as the anime you are thinking of. I have standards on where I drop people. I only drop people who annoy me in places they can't handle." Zelretch says calmly.

"What are the 'villains'?" Zane said sighing. "Aliens looking to take Earth. It's mainly their leader to look out for. She'll be fine, in fact she'll fit right in with the heroes to be." Zelretch with a knowing grin. Zane he was going to question why later but gave the OK all the same. "Excellent. Just have her wear this hair clip and It will record what happens." He sets a fox tail hair chip next to the book and vanishes. "Let's see what I'm sending into." Zane says looking at the book. It was simple looking with an image of a cute café on the front. The title was Mew Mew. It looked like it was lacking characters on the front cover. The latch looked like a paw print. Zane guessed that it was the keyhole of that world. He tried to lock it but the keyblade didn't respond. "You must want Sakura to go too, don't you?" The keyblade gleamed in a mysterious way. "I swear you are alive at times." Zane says dismissing it.

BB strolled into view, clearly, she eavesdropped on them, with a grin. "I could help Sakura on her mission, for a price." She said and Zane knew what she wanted. "I will let see my kingdom, but the top-secret stuff will remain that way." Zane said in a no-nonsense way. BB's grin widened "You will not regret buying my services." BB started to outline the 'services' she had available.

"Secure my family a 'history' in that world that is real enough no one will find anything amiss." Zane said. BB nodded "paperwork for three humans and nice, easy for me. Pleasure doing business." BB says then enters the book world. "She may be sadistic, but she is skilled." Zane said looking at the stylish hair chip. It was made of diamond and was cut to look like a real furry white fox tail. Using a jeweler's eye loupe, he saw the runes in its depths. It did just as he said it did, recorded everything are the person wearing it. There another feature that made Zane laugh. He wouldn't spoil the surprise for Sakura.

BB returned after five minutes. "No one will notice a thing other than a family of three moving in from out of town. Sakura is enrolled at a local junior high school and has a chance to get a part time job at a café called 'Café Mew Mew'. You'll thank me later." She says proudly, handing him a bunch of paperwork then leaving.

A week later

Mew Mew book world

Zane's home

Morning

Zane and Aqua were unpacking their stuff to make the house look lived in. "BB got a nice house, dear." Aqua said fixing a painting. "This will be a lovely break from things. What is the mission you sent our daughter on?" She said. "Don't laugh, but she's on a mission to be a 'magical girl'." Zane said. Aqua laughed beautifully, in Zane opinion, and said "how is working at a café going to lead to that?" Zane just said "You'd be surprised how little it takes. Are the movers putting the stuff where they belong?"

A pair of movers came in with a love seat and set it near the fireplace. "Yes dear. You purchased the right ones for the color scheme." Aqua said looking at the fireplace for any pests that may be nesting in there. "How did the students react to Sakura being dropped off by a biker on a moped?" Aqua asked noting that the chimney was filthy and full of empty webs. "About as well as you'd expect from a bunch of kids. One of them called me a brute because I glared at her. She had it coming after she called Sakura a 'filthy foreigner'. I am proud of my Greek heritage and I will not that shallow looking brat insult it." Zane said standing straighter.

Aria floated over to Aqua when the coast was clear and blasted the chimney shat clean with pressurized mist. "Nicely done Aria. You better hide before the movers see you." Aqua said as Aria trilled a happy sound then zipped off.

With Sakura

Daikan Junior High School

At homeroom

Sakura remained calm on the outside as the shallower students whispered about her. She knew this was going to happen, but it still stung a little. Ichigo Momomiya, the red-haired female classmate who sat to her right, was trying to cheer her up. "Next class is world history. If the upper students are right, then we will be starting Greek history. You can show them how much more you know about it." Sakura smiled kindly. "It won't change their views that easily." Ichigo changed the subject. "Who was the scary biker?" Sakura laughed softly. "He's my father. He's partially the reason we moved here. We move around a lot because of work."

"What jobs do your parents have?" Ichigo asked as other students listened in. "They are peacekeepers mainly. Father has another job finding artifacts for the boss he works for." Sakura said. In a thinking pose, Ichigo says "I guess that explains why you move around a lot. Who's his boss and what do they want with the things he tracks down?" Sakura smiled remembering the feeling she got when Hestia gave her blessing. "She is called Hestia. Most of the artifacts are hers by right so it's more getting them back after they changed a lot of hands over the years. I've never met her in person, but her voice is so kind."

Next class

World History

The teacher started to tell the legend of the gorgon sisters, but Sakura frowned. "You have a question?" the teacher asked seeing her raised hand. "Sensei, that's not how it happened. What you have is the modern version of the legend." Sakura explained. The teacher arched a brow and challenged her claim. Sakura pulled out a copy of a book of Greek stories penned by Zane's ancestors. "This is a copy of a collection of legends penned by my father's ancestors who date back to before Rome ransacked Greece. The original has been dated in that time period." Sakura explained as the teacher looked at the book written in Ancient Greek. "Can you read this to the class?" He said.

Sakura walked to the front of the class and read the true legend of the gorgon sisters. They were shocked as it showed what kind of person Jason the 'hero' really was. The teacher asked if she could bring a translated for the school library. Sakura said she'd see what she could do.

Later at lunch time

"That was amazing! I had no idea legends could change so much." Ichigo said as they ate lunch together with her friends Miwa Honjo, a short brown-haired girl, and Moe Yanagida, curly blonde-haired girl. Sakura smiled sadly. "It happens a lot. Take the legend of Medea for example. She was used by the gods and that prick Jason but was painted as a treacherous witch." They looked shocked but remembered what happened in the legend she read in class. "Is there any legend are don't hide how nasty the 'hero' is?" Miwa asked hoping there was a good legend.

Sakura told them the legend of the once and future king. She only told them to the point that Caliburn was drawn from the stone. "So, King Arthur was female, and Merlin was a half demon prankster who made her look male. That was not what I had in mind." Moe said. Ichigo had sparkling eyes. "I need to know more. You tell it so well, like you were there!" The bell rang signaling the end of lunch. "I'll tell you more tomorrow." Sakura said as they head to class.

After school ended for the day

Café Mew Mew

"Your 'Aunt BB' said you are skilled in baking. Go into the kitchen and show us you can make a dish that is worth of being added to the menu." Keiichiro Akasaka, a brown hair ponytailed man wearing a gentlemanly looking uniform, said calming. Ryou Shirogane, a blonde-haired teenager, wearing the same uniform as Keiichiro, teased "It's not too late to give up. This is a high-class place." His needling didn't affect Sakura as she put on an apron and got to work.

After twenty minutes, she sets two plates carrying a blooming lotus flower made of chocolate colored pink and in the center a napping cat made of strawberry cake and frosted to look real yet cute. "It looks realistic and smells inviting." Keiichiro said then tasted it. "The frosting isn't too sweet, and the cake doesn't overpower the flavor of the delicate chocolate petals. What do you think, Ryou?"

Ryou tries it. He doesn't say anything at first as he eats the whole thing. "It's passable. The question is, can you make them in a timely manner?" Ryou said. Sakura confidently said, "I can make a dozen an hour without the quality dropping." They were impressed. Keiichiro smiled and said. "Welcome to Café Mew Mew. You will help me in the kitchen. Your pay will go to your parents and you are responsible to get here on time and presentable when it's your shift. Any questions?" Sakura said no and headed home.

"You saw what the scanners picked up, right?" Ryou said staring at the door. "She's a Mew Mew, one we didn't create. The closest match I found was the Island Fox, but it not an exact match. She also doesn't have a Mew Mark (Basically a mark that shows up where the endangered animal DNA is injected. I know it makes little sense.)" Keiichiro said.

"It's best to keep her close, then question her when she feels safe." Ryou said. "The Lazy Lotus will be a hit with the teenage girls." Keiichiro laughed a little at the name but agreed with the statement.

A week later

Café Mew Mew

The week had gone by quickly. She went to school, where she drew quite a crowd with her skillful story telling. They called her 'the bard' when they thought she wasn't in ear shot, in both negative and positive lights. Ichigo and her two friends told her to pay them no mind, it was what she had been doing since the first day of class. Ichigo had asked out her crush, Masaya Aoyama. He was on the school kendo. Sakura didn't get what she saw in the dark-haired teen, then again, Sakura found Kendo to be too limited for her to enjoy. They asked where she went after school, but she just said she had a part time job at a place that was opening soon and was getting training before opening day.

Keiichiro had said she was a fast learner then dropped a question out of nowhere. "Make sure not to get fox fur in the food." He said startling her. She had been using her kitsune form to keep up with order speed the lunch rush would require. Her transformation skill as a kitsune weren't perfect so her fox ears and tails appeared as her control spilled momentarily. "What gave it away?" She said as her kitsune features reflected her embarrassment.

Keiichiro was calm as he said "This café is a cover for a future team that will save earth from the Cyniclons and the Chimera Animas they use to attack the planet. The Mew Project was created to stop their plans. Mew Mews are people infused with endangered animal DNA to fight the them. The question is how are you a nine tailed fox? You should only have one tail if it was a normal Island Fox DNA." Ryou was flipping through a book of yokai. "You bare a striking resemblance to kitsune but those are just legends like aliens." His sarcasm was thick enough to cut with a blade.

Sakura sighed "I hope Father won't be to mad. I was supposed to keep magic on the down low and get job experience, but life happens. Believe it or not, I was blessed by Amaterasu to be her envoy. So, I am a 'mew mew' via divine forces, not science." She said and waited for their denial but was greeted by resigned acceptance. "at this point denial would be counterproductive. We are serious about the fur." Ryou said needling her again.

Sakura brittles angerly "I don't shed fur! Tamamo showed me how to groom my fur properly, preventing that." Sakura was not going to let him insult Tamamo indirectly because he was immature. Keiichiro stepped in. "Let's calm down before someone gets hurt or worse. Sakura, would you be willing to help us save the world?" Sakura nodded "It's be my honor, but I'd prefer to be a back up plan in case your plan A runs into a snag." Sakura said and they agreed.

Café Mew Mew

Underground HQ under the café

They led her to the computer room that the scanners they had connected to. Sakura saw her friend Ichigo at the Endangered Animal exhibit on screen. "Ichigo is going to be a mew mew?" She asked watching Ichigo's date unfold. "Her and four others have been selected at compatible to become mew mews. For the future." Ryou said activating the 'injector'. A localized earthquake hit the park and a light blinded everyone there.

"And now we wait for the pay off. Be on the look out for floating jellyfish like things called 'infusers'. They bond with things to create the Chimera Anima." Keiichiro said praying that things would work out. "opening day is in a few days. Take a break and come in the day before." He instructed Sakura who nodded and left for home.

At Zane's home

"That's what happened." Sakura finished explaining to her parents. "We're not mad. We left out something when you were briefed about the trip here. You were to aid the 'magical girl' team in the first place. I, as your father, decided to not tell you that information so you could further your baking skills that you tried to hide from us. I noticed what you've been buying over the years and put two and two together." Zane said as they ate dinner. Phil was enjoying the meal he lived for and Aqua was watching Zane, she knew he hadn't told her everything yet.

"touch the hair clip and say 'Miko Magic power up'." Zane says amused. Sakura walks a little way from the table, so she'd have space and did so. There was a flash of light revealing her 'magical girl' form. Her hair turned the same color as her kitsune fur and her human ears were replaced by her kitsune ears, Same with her eyes. She wore a Miko inspired outfit with a hole for her tails. Her still unnamed mirror floated before her. Zane was taking photos laughing as Sakura blushed embarrassed. "your face is priceless. This will be kept for later down the road." Aqua trying to be on her side but it infectious and she too started laughing.

Sakura pouted "Father. Why didn't you tell me it looked like this?" Between laughs Zane said, "It's not every day that you get to see someone's first reaction to be a magical girl. Your lucky that troll gave you an outfit that isn't too revealing. You can use the day from work to practice." Sakura smiled as Aria posed with her as her 'cute mascot animal'. She'd get him back for this prank.

Phil the mimic sung his opinion "Lady Sakura is cute as she is crafty. You better watch your back, Master Zane because she will get you back. That is a fact." Zane smiled proudly. "I can't wait to see how she does it." Zane encouraged a little fun 'payback'. It helped the family deal with inhouse problems before it spins out of control. The next day he was used as her training dummy tagging her with a paintball gun to help her dodging skills as he moved about.

Eve of opening day

Café Mew Mew

Sakura was called in to meet the first waitress they were hiring. "Sakura! You didn't tell me you worked here." Ichigo said in the maid uniform of the café. She had a red dress for hers. Sakura and Ichigo hugged in a friendly way then Sakura explained. "It was going to be a surprise, but you got hired. I'm in the kitchen so I'm allowed to have a few people I know come by and have a discount once a month." Ryou added. "It comes out of your paycheck so it's not 'free' free. And it can be revoked if you don't keep up with the work."

Sakura whaps him with a rolling pin. "you're one to talk. You are just the owner of the place. we are the bakers that keep this place running." Sakura says gesturing to Keiichiro and herself. "Please don't use cooking tools are weapons, it makes them dirty." Keiichiro said as Ryou clutches his head. "You gave her the talk about 'that' right?" Sakura said and they nodded. "wait! You know about the monsters and stuff?" Ichigo asked.

"It's hard to miss a monster rat being beaten by a cat theme magical girl." Sakura said truthfully because she had watched Ichigo's first fight as 'Mew Strawberry'. There was no need to tell her about her 'magic Mako' powers just yet. The team to be needed solid teamwork before she stepped into the light.

Ichigo was pouting and muttering about how embarrassing that fight was for her, particularly the outfit she wore when transformed. "I can help train you and your future teammates as they show up, if you want." Sakura offered. Ichigo was puzzled then remembered who her parents were. Peacekeepers must get into fights at some point. A baseball sized pink fuzzy ball with wings, big eyes, cat ears, and a puff ball tipped tail floated around Sakura. "nice to meet you. Nice to meet you." He declared happily.

"That is R2000, or as Ichigo called him, Masha." Keiichiro says as Masha puffs to a keychain size. "That convenient." Sakura says as Ichigo attaches Masha to her cellphone. "Masha is a robot built to detect and contain 'infusers' and other aliens. Remember, tomorrow is opening day." Keiichiro says as they leave.

The next day

Café Mew Mew

The Lazy Lotus was being ordered like crazy, forcing Sakura to beat her claim of 12 in an hour. She was at 25 of them in an hour, each one perfectly made as the ones she first made to get the job. Ichigo was complaining about them not telling her that her cat features would appear when she was excited or embarrassed. Sakura chuckled to herself as Ichigo dealt with the craziness that was the rush hour.

Sakura was asked to meet one of the customers. A teenaged girl with dark hair and came from a rich family named Minto Aizawa. "Are you the creator of the Lazy Lotus?" Minto said in a tone that said she already judged Sakura. "Yes, I did. Is that anything wrong with it?" Sakura said politely, bracing for something negative. "does the cat have to be white?" Minto asked in a snobby voice. "It would cost a little more, but I can make the 'fur' of the cat any color. It will also take longer to make as a result." Sakura said relieved on the inside.

Minto nodded "That is adequate. I'd like another Lazy lotus but a blue cat." She ordered. Sakura nodded and got the order ready. "Add the menu that they can change the color of the cat for a small fee." She said to Keiichiro heard her as he frosted a flower on to a cake but did say anything. It was a good idea. He had planned to bring it up anyways.

A few days later

Minto joined as a waitress and as Mew Mint. "This is unexpected." Sakura said looking at Minto's blue maid uniform. "You still have to pay for the Lazy Lotus. Everything Keiichiro creates, he lets you have for free because you are an employee. I worked too hard on it to give it away for free." Sakura said firmly. Minto nodded and said "I see you are not a fool. I am willing to pay half the price." Sakura agreed to this. "That is a fair employee discount. What training can you provide for me? I use a bow."

Sakura knew exactly what training she needed. "Evasion and faster accurate shooting would be your priority. The way to train that would be the tried and trued method of someone shooting at you with a paintball or bb gun while you try to get them with rubber tipped arrows. It hurts and can be messy, but you learn to dodge and shoot better." Sakura outlined.

Minto was unsure but asked "You use this method before, right?" Sakura nodded "In a way. I used a different weapon, but it worked. Are you willing to try?" Minto's pride acted up and she huffed "As if I'd back down from training like that. It will be easy as ballet." (Ballet training can be painful as hell.)

A week later

Private Paintball field Sakura uses for training

Sakura wondered if she had too much fun training them. She spent a few hours every day after work to train them. So far it was just reading attacks and dodging. She was most impressed with the newest member, Retasu Midorikawa. Retasu, Mew Lettice, was a nerdy green-haired teen who wore glasses. She was a little bit timid, but her ability to predict the angles of attacks was superb. She used castanets to control water as her weapons.

"That's all for today. Get cleaned up and rest up for tomorrow." Sakura said holstering the paintball gun. "Did you have to aim at me so much?" Minto said annoyed. Looking smug Sakura said "I did tell you that I watch how much you work at the Café. You should sit around less next time."

As Sakura left the area, a Cyniclon floated down and sat on the air. Quiche was a pale skinned elven looking alien with dark green hair and yellow slit pupiled eyes. He wears bagging looking dark clothes that showed off his midriff. "I see you are torturing them again. On one hand they are getting better at stopping our plans but on the other, it's quite amusing to watch. Why is it that we can't always see what's going on here? You humans don't have tech that can stop us just lying around and this is just a colorful gun range." Quiche said as he drifted in place following her as she walked home. His grin showed the fang like teeth he had.

"You could always solve this problem peacefully. My family would be more than willing to help." Sakura says as he runs into a sign distracted. "I'll think about it. Later foxy!" Quiche says vanishing.

Unknown location

Quiche was kneeling before a glowing blue sphere. "Deep Blue, the strange human I told you about before has offered to settle things 'peacefully'. It is unknown if other humans are like this, but her family seems to have the same mentality as her." The sphere glowed as the being inside spoke. "continue as instructed, the planet has been inhabited by lesser beings for 56 million years. We will reclaim it and remove those that refuse us." Deep Blue, the leader, said.

"What of the peaceful humans?" Quiche asked. Deep Blue answered coldly "They will have their uses after we have completed our mission." Quiche knew what fate awaited those who 'survived' and dreaded it. "We will not let the mission end in failure." Quiche said leaving the place with 'infusers' following him.

The next day

Theme park

Sakura watched as the three dealt with a Chimera Anima that looked like a giant monstrous lion. Quiche floated near her. "I have to say, that torture is working. We will just have to work hard next time. I should warn you that our leader is not the type to 'talk things out'." He said to her. "I expected that, but I will still try for peace." Sakura said as the team defeated the creature. The lion cub the 'infuser' had used was returned unharmed.

"You humans are so stubborn. Later Foxy!" Quiche floats away. Sakura knew her time out of the limelight was dwindling. She would use her mirror, she named it Midnight Eclipse, for the first time in true combat. The mirror glows with black starry sky like flames ready for its mistress' call. It was the shadow of the sun and its flames burned beautifully no matter the darkness.

Next week

Unknown place

Quiche kneeled before Deep Blue. "The mew mews' identity is protected by some unknown means, I have seen their faces, heard their voices and names but something prevents me from remembering it when try to tell anyone in any form." Quiche explained not knowing that Sakura had placed runes on the Mew mews to protect them from attacks on their citizen life. Deep Blue was displeased but was impressed that the lesser beings pulled a trick like that. "A setback but we can work around it." Deep Blue said. Quiche started to explain a new plan he and his team had made. "We can use the 'infusers' and human spirits to make better Chimera Animas. Using animals have proven less than useful with each defeat."

"very well, proceed with this plan." Deep Blue commanded.

The next day

At the party

The staff of Café Mew Mew had been invited to party that a famous pianist Mary McGuire was going to play at. It a great night of music and dance until Quiche stole Mary's spirit and created a keyboard playing cat creature in a red Chinese style dress. It attacked with extremely fast dashing and bad music creating a vacuum via wind.

Sakura transformed and stood on the roof of the mansion. "You give music a bad name! I am Magical Miko Ammy and I will not stand to let you continue!" Sakura declared throwing her Midnight Eclipse smashing the creature's keyboard. "Another one?!" Quiche said shocked. The Mew Mew were just as shocked as Sakura recalled her weapon. "Be purified by my void flames! Midnight Pyre!" Her weapon angled at the creature and flames like a star filled sky poured out. As that was left was the 'spirit crystal' and the 'infuser'.

Sakura escaped before they could say anything. It was not her time to tell them who she was, but she'd help from the shadows. "What was that attack!" Quiche said checking if any touched him then retreating. Ichigo returned the spirit to Mary and was relieved that she was fine.

Next day

Café Mew Mew

"So, she appeared and blasted the new monster to ashes then left just as quick? Sounds like she has been watching your fights." Sakura said as they explained what happened. "Exactly! Why didn't she stick around? It'd be nice to have her on the team." Ichigo said annoyed but in awe. "I think she called herself 'Magical Miko Ammy' or something like that." Minto said remembering how beautiful she was and flames she made too. Retasu set a book on the table for them to see. "I don't think she's a mew mew. I remember her having nine fox tails, so I did some research. I believe she's a supernatural creature called a kitsune." She explained.

"You mean the trickster spirits that look like foxes? What about that mirror, it reminded me of something?" Ichigo said thinking hard. "One of the three Imperial regalia of Japan. The mirror used to lure Amaterasu out of the cave. It does remind me of that too. But what are the chances that the supernatural is also real?" Minto points out. Sakura in a knowing voice said "somethings more than you'd want to know. How about you girls come over to my house for a sleep over?" Sakura was delighted when they said yes.

Zane's home

"Mother, Father, I'd like you to meet Ichigo, Minto, and Retasu. They are some of my friends and co workers at the café." Sakura introduced them. It was the weekend, so all the parents were OK with Sakura's plan. Aria greeted her warmly as her friends stared. "Is that a dragon? A real dragon?" Ichigo said reaching out a hand but stopped when Aria looked at her.

Aria flitted about the three then floated away not interested in them. "don't mind Aria. You aren't family, friend, or thief so she isn't that interested in you. Dragons tend to limit who they interact with to protect their horde of riches. Even a Mist Dragon as young as her has those instincts from the time she hatched." Sakura explained as Zane had taken pictures of their expressions.

"what did you say your parents did?" Minto said slowly. "They are a kind of peacekeepers. We run into all sorts of conflicts, even wars." Sakura trailed off as unpleasant memories start to resurface. "Show us the rest of the house please?" Ichigo changes the subject. Zane and Aqua head to the kitchen to cook as Sakura gives the tour of the place.

Ten minutes later

"Father's study is off limits because some of the gadgets he makes has a chance of exploding or bursting into fire at random. One more thing, if you hear someone singing in the middle of the night, it's just Phil." Sakura says. Retasu guessed she was talking about the living trunk that had been savoring cooked porkchops by waved a spidery leg in greeting as they passed him. "Is he a good singer?" Sakura thought about the question. "Depends on the genre he's singing and how high or low the notes get."

"You've proven the supernatural is real. What is it that you need to tell us that required us to be at your house?" Minto asked hands on her hips. "I can tell you that the gods are real even if they can't interact with mortals easily. Ammy is likely the envoy of the sun goddess. How now on you need to tread carefully when on sacred grounds." Sakura said in a tone that left no doubt.

"Do you think Inari would be angry that I blamed a step that led up to one her shrine for tripping me?" Ichigo said worried. Sakura laughed "I'd say that it was a prank by one of her messengers. Their connection with the mortals is thinner than they want but still strong enough to not fade away." Retasu had an idea. "Do you think Ammy may around any of the Shinto shrines?" Sakura nodded at her solid logic. "I will do that over the weekends. That means you get a break from training on those days until Ammy is found." They sighed in relief as she said that.

"Little Sparrow! It's dinner time!" Zane yelled from downstairs make her blush and them to giggle at her.

A month later

Middle of the woods

Sakura has visited each shrine and 'looked' for Ammy. She felt the unseen gaze of the gods on her as she entered each shrine and temple. It was a forgotten and overgrown shrine in the woods that had interesting results. She had followed a game trail, when she found the torii gates, choked with vines. It had taken her a little bit of work to clear the vines blocking the path, but something urged her on, to continue to clean up the shrine.

There was a pair of kitsune statues standing guard on ether side of the dilapidated shrine. The shoji, the sliding paper doors, had holes, the floorboards were broken, and there were missing shingles on the roof. It was a depressing sight. She slid open the shoji and looked at the altar. It was in pristine condition save for the lack of incense, candles and offerings. A vague voice echoed from far away yet close by. "I beg you, Envoy of the sun, restore the shrine and you will be rewarded. Tell no one." Sakura was unsure of what this reward would be, but the gods were watching her closely. Pulling out a notepad and pencil, she wrote down everything she'd need to repair the shrine.

She wouldn't tell the team about this. Speaking of the team, two new members joined. An excitable 9-year-old blonde-haired Chinese girl that acted a lot time the monkey whose DNA was given to her. Her name is Bu-Ling Huang, Mew Pudding. She made a very lively waitress at the café. The model, Zakuro Fujiwara, Mew Pomegranate, with her purple-hair and lone wolf tendencies but still helpful was the opposite. She was in her mid-teens, but she acted more like an adult, the wolf DNA only added to her mentality. Training the team was getting harder but 'Ammy' hadn't needed to appear again for some time.

A week later

Café Mew Mew

"What are you doing in the woods?" Zakuro asked cornering her in the locker room. "I tried to follow you but somehow I lost track of you. You were carrying building supplies into the woods for the past week." Sakura knew someone would notice. "a side project that I must do alone. It has to do with the shines." Zakuro backed off at her response. "you could have told us. We were worried about you." She sighed. "Call everyone together." Sakura said.

Five minutes later

"I am Magical Miko Ammy." Sakura said pulling a Tony Stark. "What! But you, wait?" Ichigo was confused. "What she means to says is how were you at the party at the same time as Ammy was on the roof?" Minto translated. A second Sakura wakes from the kitchen carrying a tray of sweets. "Does that answer your question?" Sakura says amused. Bu-Ling climbed onto the copy's back and pulled her cheeks as she set the tray down. "It feels real." Bu-Ling says messing with the copy's face. The copy turned to ash that never reached the floor, dropping the monkey girl.

"Are you human?" Retasu asked. Sakura laughed and said "sometimes. It's a trait that my family seems to pick up. Be it by magic, demons, gods, trees, we have been 'blessed' with forms that are non-human. I didn't tell you because you needed to be ready to stand on your own. Why do you think I trained you guys?" They grumbled about it being torture save Bu-Ling who said "It's fun training. Can you show us what you look like? They couldn't see you with the moon at your back."

"Miko Magic power up!" Sakura said touching the hair clip and before them stood Magical Miko Ammy. She bowed mockingly as her eye sparkled with mischief. "am I too stunning for your team?" Ichigo shook her head "No it just you stay under the radar for weeks, right under our noses." Her cat features popped out as she was embarrassed that she missed the hints. Sakura knew history and the supernatural, her ability to keep up the rush of orders without screwing up, the gracefulness of her movements as they were 'trained'. Looking back, it made perfect sense.

"The fact you never found out means I did a good job hiding it. The bonds we formed are real as they felt to you. It was hard for me to hide this from you. A house with only one pillar will crumble under the stress." Sakura said. Keiichiro nodded sagely "you are correct. If the team were to last it needs each part trusting the others. While you hid these things from the team, you also let them in at the same time. You could have been a wallflower and done nothing, but you trained them to survive. What are you doing that must be done alone?" He finished with a question she couldn't answer.

"A kami, divine spirit, gave me a safe, if lengthy, task I can not talk about or else." Sakura said feeling the unseen eyes watching her like a hawk. "I know they are watching me right now." They tense up worried but let the subject go. "I have had talks with the enemy, Quiche. He says that their goal is to 'reclaim' the earth." They listen as she talks about what the small chats revealed.

Ryou annoyed said "how likely do you think they will be willing to listen. He did say their leader isn't swayed by peaceful talking. They tried to poison the city with infected trees." Sakura understood him but said resolved "Peace is always an option. It's just that one or more people in the fight refuse to take that road." Ryou looked away from her gaze. It convened understanding that she shouldn't have.

Elsewhere

Unknown place

"your constant failures have proven you can't do this alone. Fear not, your punishment will be given when you complete the mission. How painful it will be is up to how fast you reclaim this blue planet." Deep Blue said to the kneeling Quiche. Two of the same alien races as him, entered and kneeled. One was a ten-year-old looking brown haired male wearing bandages on him limbs, a red vest like top and puffy black shorts, named Tart. The other was a dark-haired male with a calm calculated air about him. He looked to be the oldest of the three in his late teens maybe. He was called Pie.

"I trust you will do better than Quiche did." Deep Blue said. "We will use the data Quiche has generously collected for us to destroy them more efficiently." Pie said coldly. "You know what happens if you fail." Deep Blue said dismissing them.

Over the city

The trio of aliens stood on the skyscraper roof. "You know the strange human named Sakura?" Quiche asked them. "Yes, the one that offered 'peaceful negotiations', what of her?" Pie said. Quiche shuttered. "Her whole family has this air about them. The air of a trained warrior that will cut anyone down if they cross the line in the sand." Quiche explained. Tart laughed not believing him, but Pie decided to see for himself if it was true. Deep Blue wouldn't mind if he tried to find what threat this family was.

A week later

Café Mew Mew

HQ under the café

Masha, the adorable helper he was, had been captured after overhearing something and not getting the full contexts. He had hacked the computers and sent data that pinpointed why the Cyniclon wanted to 'reclaim' the earth. At some point they had left the earth and lived on a different one only to be forced underground on the new planet. They race was dying and they came to get their old planet back by force.

"This clears up a lot. The desperate are the most dangerous kinds of people." Sakura said. Keiichiro agreed with her by asked "How is your project going?" Sakura made the 'so so' gesture. "there are minor setbacks." She had found that all the floor was dry rot, meaning she had to replace it all. The roof was fixed, and shoji was soon to follow. She needed to find an expert on how to 'purify' the shrine when it was fixed up.

"Still can't tell you. Pie, the one that was trying to extract data from Masha, was near my house watching. Not attacking, just watching. It's not a problem yet, but I will keep on my toes." Sakura said. As they discussed whet they needed to do.

A few days later

The shrine in the woods

Sakura was putting the last of the flooring was she heard someone taking. "So, this is where you run off to. I somehow got lost quite a few times." Tart said sitting on a plant golem looking Chimera Anima. "This is not a place you should fight near. You may anger someone that is more powerful than you." Sakura said continuing the repairs. Tart laughs "You mean that presence in the woods is from some creature? I'm not here to fight anyways. What I'm interested in is why you keep coming to the woods."

Tart said as the force bared down on the golem and destroyed it.

"I'd stop that train of thought before you get crushed too." Sakura said as she put the shoji back. All that was left, was to 'purify' the shrine. Tart was looking past her and saw a ghostly nine tailed fox sitting in the shrine looking at him annoyed. This shrine was dedicated to Inari Ōkami, the kami of foxes, fertility, rice, tea and sake, agriculture and industry, general prosperity and worldly success. Inari's glaze froze him to his bones. Deep Blue scared him with what he did to those who failed him, but Inari terrified him much worse. He had no idea who she was, but he knew she was more dangerous than Deep Blue.

Tart's eyes rolled into the back of his head and slumped to the ground. "I do not know how he made his way here, but he will find his creatures will be able to repeat that feat." Inari said commanding the forest animals to drop Tart off at the edge of the woods. "go to the Kitano Tenman-gū shrine and request a shrine purification at the forest den. They will know what you mean." Sakura nodded and left. She'd do that tomorrow.

That evening

The Alien pocket dimension

Tart was rocking back and forth in the air. "that ghost fox was scary! She destroyed my creature with just a look!" Tart explained sweating and eyes darting. "Did she look like this?" Pie says typing away at the computer, bringing up a painting of Inari. Tart yells and hides behind Quiche quaking. "Yes! That's the scary ghost fox!" Pie brings up the information. "She is a 'god' that a selection of humans worship. I have my doubts she was real but, that shrine is likely is one of hers." Pie said in a slightly shaken voice.

"So, stay away from the shrines and none of the gods will interfere." Quiche says "although it may be too late for that. That Miko with nine tails remains me of the fox god Tart annoyed." Pie had made the same connection. "We will just have to plan smarter." He says as ideas formed based on the new information that was presented.

The next day

Kitano Tenman-gū Shrine

Sakura had done as requested and said the words. The monk she talked to, guided her to a building behind the main shrine that had an older feel to it. The monk had vanished at some point leaving her alone but that did not last long. An elderly priest, in black garb and a sheathed sword on his belt and a closed fan in his hand, stepped out of the building. "I'd ask why you were here, but we both know that is unnecessary." He said calmly, inviting her inside. Sakura entered, 'taking her shoes off at the door because it is respectful. The priest was the god of learning, Tenjin. "To purify that shrine you must perform this ceremony." He places a scroll on the table between them. "You will find it works better if done in the image of the fox goddess." He said as she waited. She didn't not reach for the scroll as he made tea the traditional way.

"I see you are wise enough to not think it was free. What did you bring to trade for this knowledge?" Tenjin said pouring the tea and sitting. Sakura set a box of sweets on the table. "I offer this for a chance to negotiate the price of the scroll." She said calm as a still pond. Tenjin opened the box to find a dozen Lazy Lotuses. Sampling one he smiled. "Very well. I will give you a chance to negotiate the price. These are quite lovely; can I have the recipe?" Sakura declined and he shrugged "oh well. I see you are carrying a book of Greek legends, handwritten and bound too. I'd be willing to part with this scroll for that." Tenjin offered.

Sakura brought out a copy of the book she showed at that school. "That is an agreeable price." Tenjin took the book and pushed the scroll her way. "feel free to leave more of these delightful sweets as offerings." He says.

Dawn the next day

Inari Shrine in the woods

Sakura had just finished the purification of the shrine that required her to do it at the dawn. A shadowy film was burned away as the light of the sun touched the area. The Shrine felt as it should. Inari appeared, pleased at the completion of the task. "Well done, Envoy of the Sun, you have restored the shrine and prevented the humans from taking anymore of the forest." Sakura had heard that some big wig was trying to demo the area for 'housing'. Sakura had used the extra money to make the forest protected from any hunting or demolition. It was now called the Inari Forest Park.

Inari said to her, "Your reward is this, a chance to hone your skills as a Kitsune. Yours are lacking the finesse one of your status should have. Meet here each weekend." Sakura bowed respectively. Inari started laughing. "You don't have to be so serious. If I wanted you to be a stick in the mud, then I would train you. I will use the age old Kitsune training called" She pauses dramatically as a drum roll is hear in thin air. "Pranking!" an inviable crowd cheering replaces the drum roll. Sakura smiled widely; this would be fun training. Elsewhere several beings felt a chilling dread as if trouble was waiting for them in the future.

A few days later

Ichigo's house

"You are overworking yourself if got this sick." Sakura said puts a fresh wet cloth on Ichigo's forehead. "You stay in bed. Death by overworking is a serious problem and you know it." Sakura said as Ichigo weakly protested. Karōshi, translated to Overwork death, was when the cause of death was stress or illness caused by working without proper breaks. In Japan it's a real problem. "I will be making sure you get rest." Sakura leaves Ichigo to recover.

Ten minutes later

Sakura transformed into her magical girl persona after being contacted that there was Chimera Anima all over the city. Hopefully Ichigo would be fine at home.

An hour later

Near the center of the city

Sakura blasted another dozen Chimera Anima as they kept coming from the woodwork. They were weak but that were distracting her from regrouping with the others. She decided to change tactics before she was beaten by sheer numbers. Her mirror floated into the air and spun like a gyroscope. "Night of the Destruction!" She yelled as homing Ping-Pong ball sized fireballs rained down blasted all the creatures.

She needed a break after this.

A month later

Sakura was relaxing when a trio of shadows fell over her. She opened her eyes to see the trio of Quiche, Tart, and Pie. "Please tell me you aren't here to attack. I'm trying to relax after a stress of month at the café." She pleaded. It had been the busiest month yet. She ran herself as hard as she could, but it got to the point that she requested the week off work. They understood and granted it.

"It's too hot today. What are you doing here, foxy?" Quiche asked. "Have you ever been worked to the brink because high demand?" She asked. Pie said "I see. It was taking a break, or you would break. I do understand that. What are your thoughts on the 'Blue Knight'?" He was referring to the blonde-haired Cyniclon swordsman in blue that had been showing up lately to help Ichigo. "I have no idea what his end game is but he's helping Ichigo survive live combat." At some point the runes that protected the mew mews identify had failed and they knew who the mew mews were.

"Why are you just standing there? Let's use her as bait!" Tart said but Sakura hit him in the head with a wooden sword. "Please do not stress me out right now. I have work tomorrow and being a hostage is not relaxing." Tart held his head in pain as Quiche laughs and Pie looked at her interested. "Are you proficient with a sword?" He asked. "Sword and shield. My father is even more skilled than me, but axes are his specialty." She listed. They had no idea how skilled her family were with said weapons, so it was safe.

"What of your mother?" Pie inquired. Cracking a smile, she said "Magic" Tart had left to terrorize the Mew Mews, so she only got two shocked Cyniclons. "Interesting. I was unaware that there was anyone that used magic other than the mew mews." Pie said. Whether or not the skills that the mew mews used were magic, didn't matter to Sakura. Technology and magic could advance to the point it was impossible to tell them apart.

"so foxy, got anything to read?" Quiche asked lounging on the deck. Sakura tossed a couple books at them then covered her eyes to take a nap. The Cyniclon were immersed in the legends of old and debating on how they'd fair against the creatures of their 'current' home planet.

A few days later

Inari Forest Park

Sakura watched as the evil poison spreading moth creature was destroyed by a Mew Aqua powered super attack. Mew Aqua was this stone that had a lot of energy stored in it and it could be used in several ways. She knew now why Inari asked her to meet her in the middle of the crisis at Tokyo tower. Inari knew this had to happen for whatever reason. Mew Aqua had strange effects when used by a Mew mew, like giving a mermaid tail made of energy to Mew Lettice for a short time.

"I'd watch Ichigo closely the next few days, something amusing will happen." Inari commented with a gleam in her eyes like she did when planning a prank. Speaking of pranks, the new paper has been going on about a string of misfortunate events followed by something good for the past month. Things like tripping and landing in mud puddles only to find a something that made up for it. The people were quite sure it was the work of yokai. No one was hurt too badly, and they found some payment for being the target in one form or another.

A few days later

Café Mew Mew

Quiche, Pie and Tart were floating outside of the café wielding a pair of Sais, a war fan, and a pair of clacker balls, ready to force their way in. Sakura, annoyed, walked out to meet them. "If you are here for Mew Aqua, your out of luck. That super attack drained the rod completely. If you are here to order something, please do not bring weapons to the café." She said calmly as the three heard the unsaid threat.

"I don't believe she's lying." Pie say softly to the other two. Quiche nodded and dismissed his Sais. "I'll order a sampler box. Will this cover it, Foxy?" Quiche dropped an axe into her hands. It was made of an unknown metal and had a single edged head and the shaft was made of the same metal. She hefted it and found it to be almost as heavy as Bite of Agony. She smiled and said, "I will get your order now."

Half hour later

She handed them a box and they deported. "That axe will be a nice birthday gift, for father." Sakura said to herself reentering the café. "I'm impressed. You got them to leave with out a single thing broken." Minto said drinking tea. "what are you going to do with the axe?" Keiichiro asked as Bu-Ling was trying in vain to lift the axe. The others wondered what kind of strength it took to use the thing in battle. Sakura lifted it with some difficulty, she didn't have the right strength to use a weapon like this properly.

"Phil!" She called and Phil appeared in a flash of light. "Lady Sakura, what can this humble trunk do for you?" Phil sung bowing. Ryou and Keiichiro being the only ones out of the loop were leery of the mimic. "I need you to keep this safe for me." Sakura says and Phil opens his storage mouth letting Sakura enter it. Five minutes later Sakura reemerged without the axe. Phil sings a farewell and scuttles away on his spidery legs.

"What was that thing?" Ryou asked weirded out. "That's Phil, a pork chop eating mimic Sakura's family 'owns'. His singing is pleasant most of the time." Retasu said. "Yeah! He's got a lot of cool stuff in his storage, not that he lets me in there." Bu-Ling says annoyed he would let her enter.

That evening

The park near the café

Sakura was watching Ichigo in her kitsune form, cloaked under an illusion. Ichigo kissed her crush, now boyfriend, and turned into a small back kitten with a bow on her tail and bell collar around her neck. Sakura laughed as Ichigo freaked out. Sakura approached her on silent paws. "What seems to be the problem?" She asked making Ichigo fly up in fright. Ichigo didn't recognize her.

"Kitsune! Please don't curse me!" Ichigo begged "Being turned into a cat is bad enough!" Sakura acting surprised asked "You aren't an adorable kitten? I don't remember changing anyone into a kitten. Maybe Inari will know how to help you. This way, we have much ground to cover." Sakura says and walks at a pace Ichigo could keep up with.

An hour later

"Can we take a break. It's hard to keep up with you." Ichigo said limply. Kneel down Sakura said "get on my back. Mind the tails." Ichigo does so and Sakura bounds off at speeds force her to hold on for dear life. "At this pace we will be there much faster." Sakura said enjoying the rush of air through her fur.

An hour later

Inari Forest Park

Ichigo dropped off Sakura's back dizzy. "we will be traveling carefully from this point on. This forest is Inari's and there is no straight path to her shrine." Ichigo gets her bearings. "wait! You never told me your name." As they weaved around trees Sakura smiled "I'm hurt. You don't recognize the voice of your friend?" She had a mock hurt tone as Ichigo got the hint. "Sakura! But why are you running around looking like a kitsune?"

Sakura laughed "Why else? Kitsune are free spirited creatures. Being in the kitchen or school for so long can get stuffy. Who do you think is behind the string of pranks?" Ichigo groaned. It made a lot of sense. "You were doing for Inari, right? That's what you couldn't tell us about." Sakura nodded as Ichigo figured it out. "greetings Sakura. Helping a victim of a yokai prank?" An owl greeted from the shows of the trees. They couldn't see the owl, but they heard it perfectly. "I'm hoping Inari will know what happened to her." Sakura said. "Make sure to stay safe. Things have been restless lately." The owl said then flew away.

"We need to tread carefully. Slumbering beings are awakening since the gods' connection is strengthened." Sakura explained.

20 minutes later

The trip was uneventful as animals greeted them before returning to what they were doing. Each warned them to be wary in some way. They stopped at a tree with a shimenawa, sacred rope, wrapped around its vast trunk. Around them a clacking sound echoed. Sakura was listening calmly as Ichigo was puffed up with fear. "There is nothing to fear. It is just the Kodama, tree spirits, of this tree. It is the oldest in the forest." Sakura said soothingly as small white bobblehead like spirits with only three black holes on its misshapen face.

"They have not made a sound in many years. To be the first to hear them is grand." Sakura said. Ichigo, curious, asked, "what are they saying?" The Kodama sounded happy. "they do not use words. You must feel their meaning." Sakura said as they did so. The Kodama expressed gratitude for what Sakura did then, the tone shifted to a grim warning. Something was coming and it did not bod well for the forest.

Bowing Sakura said "Thank you. We will watch for the danger."

Ten minutes later

The first Torii Gate stood before them. "welcome to the Forest Den Shrine. This is what I was working on. The only reason you are here is because Inari is letting you in. We shouldn't keep her waiting." Sakura said as the walked through the line of Torii Gates.

Ichigo stared at the shrine in awe. "You restored this? It's amazing." Ichigo said as her eyes sparkled, and tail swayed in happiness. Inari appeared. "I see you followed my advice. She is quite entertaining." Referring to Ichigo's freak out. "this is not a yokai prank, even if it would have been one of the better ones. It's a result of using Mew Aqua. A kiss triggers it when emotions are high." Inari said then kissed Ichigo, turning her back. Ichigo was blushing as she thanked Inari.

The next day

Café Mew Mew

Ichigo was explaining what happened to her but the team did not believe her. "As if you'd be important enough to meet a kami." Minto dismissed her claim. "I wouldn't dismiss her that easily." Sakura said in her Kitsune form, tails swishing lazily. "You are so adorable." Retasu said looking at her pleadingly. "You may." Sakura lets her feel one of her tails. "so fluffy." Zakuro was more interested what really happened. "Yes, she turned into an adorable black kitten, and yes she met Inari and Kodama. What she didn't tell you is that Inari turned her back with a kiss." Sakura said as Ichigo hid her blushing face. As her cat features expressed her mood perfectly.

"Why did you have to tell them that?" She said as her tail puffed up angerly. "Because your reaction is amusing. I could have told your boyfriend, if it makes you feel better?" Sakura said smirking at how red Ichigo's face was getting. "You! I! UGGH!" Ichigo stomps off to cool off. Sakura was helping her avoid turning into a cat. If she didn't get so embarrassed around her boyfriend, then no cat transformation. Win-win in her eyes.

A few hours later

Ichigo came back talking about a talking cat she met at the train station. Said mottled breed cat, named Asano, was tapping on one of the Café's heart shaped windows. Ichigo and Sakura were the only ones that understood the cat. He said he was looking for a female cat he fancied but her owner moved.

"Asano, I may have way to find a Lilac Point Siamese named Jacqueline quickly. What you do after that will be up to you." Sakura said sending out an eerie call to the pipefoxes Zane had. "What was that?" Minto said. "A call to ones who serve my family as spies." Sakura says as the pipefoxes swirl around her happily. "Mighty Kitsune! Your help is great, but I don't know how I will repay you." Asano said connecting the dots.

"Go find the cat he's looking for please." She says to the pipefoxes, who rush off. "If your love for her is returned in kind, then the payment will be to show her that truth." Asano bows grateful. A Pipefox returned and shared its secrets. "She's going to be at a cat show. I have a plan." Sakura grinned.

The next day

Cat show

Sakura made Asano invisible as she walked among the humans in her Kitsune form. They whisper and pointed but none tried to approach her or throw her out. They knew not to mess with a kitsune. She approached the owner of Jacqueline. "Hello sir. I heard on the grape vine that you are looking for a mate for you cat. What characteristics are you looking for?" The owner was leery but said "I am looking for a cat that is right for her. My late wife would have wanted that. Why are you here?" Sakura smiled softly, "To see a reunion of lovers. Don't mind me and go along with your plans." Sakura said padding away to watch.

An hour later

Sakura watched as a snotty purebred cat was turned into a Chimera Anima. Asano jumped in the way of the beast as it tried to attack Jacqueline. Seeing all she needed to see, she sent her weapon and knocked the beast out so Ichigo could do her thing. The owner recognizing Asano as the cat that visited his house a lot, and his reaction to his love in danger agreed to keep the together.

"Mighty Kitsune, thank you again. Where shall we leave offerings?" Asano said as he and his mate bow. "Go to the Forest Den Shrine. As the animals and they will guide you." Sakura says fading from view via illusion.

Months later

Café Mew Mew

After a lot of fights and other events the mystery of the Blue Knight was revealed to be Masaya, Ichigo's boyfriend. "So, how does it feel to be a hero?" Ichigo asked him. He knew who they were and didn't care so Sakura didn't mind asking him this. "It's nice being about to help Ichigo. How is it to be a kitsune?" Masaya asked her in return. "It has it's ups and downs. I don't think I need to tell you how better smelling is double edged." Sakura says with a grimace.

She fished out a blank hand sized figure made of cloth and smelled weird from somewhere. On it's face was the name 'Deep Blue'. "Carry this with you at all times. You may need it if my hunch why you can transform into the Blue Knight is right." She says handing it to him. He looks it over. "Why did you name it that?" He asked knowing a little about that naming something gives it 'power' in some way. "It will call that which shares its name to itself if the conditions are right."

A few weeks later

Middle of the city

Sakura was laughing uproariously as her doll did its job. Masaya turned out to be a half human half Cyniclon 'sleeper agent' that Deep Blue was going to take over to 'reclaim' the earth. She had collaborated with Inari to make the greatest prank ever to be done to the black hearted Cyniclon leader. She only intended to trap him in a doll to force him to surrender in return for going back to his body. But it turned out he didn't have one. He sent his soul to earth leaving his old body to rot on the planet they came from!

Now Deep Blue was trapped in a 'voodoo' doll forever and he could yell and scream all he wanted never to be heard. Masaya stared at the doll that now looked like the Blue Knight but with black hair paler skin and the angriest face he's ever seen on a doll. "suddenly smelling like that doll was worth it." He said wrinkling his nose remembering the smell.

"This is priceless, Foxy!" Quiche said laughing just as hard as Sakura was as he floated above them. He didn't mind this outcome. Pie, Tart, and him had been getting the feeling that Deep Blue didn't care about his people at all. All they needed was a chance to stop him.

"Masaya! Are you ok?" Ichigo yelled as her mew mew persona, came running but was confused by what she saw. "I'm fine, confused, but fine." He said hugging her close. The doll radiated a black aura of a rage as it was tossed aside. "What happened? Where is Deep Blue?" Pie said rushing over. Quiche just pointed and laughed some more. "He's trapped in a doll?" Pie stared unsure of how to take the news.

An hour later

Café Mew Mew

Everyone was sitting at tables as Sakura explained what happened. With Deep Blue's defeat their mew mew powers fell dormant, they still had the passive effects, but they couldn't transform or have their animal features appear. Zane and Aqua had come by when they heard what happened. "Well done Little Sparrow. I'll throw this doll in deepest place we've got." He said ruffling her hair.

"What do you mean by that?" Ryou said. "We have a place that houses some dangerous things. This doll will be safely hidden from those who wish to use it." Aqua said. "There is something you need to tell your friends, dear." Sakura sighed sadly. "My family will be leaving by the end of month. It won't be for good, but we got a call about another job. We just found out about five minutes ago."

"Such is the life of a warrior. Are you still open to peace?" Pie inquired knowing that they were more than just peacekeepers. One does not carry themselves like they do without fighting in deadly conflicts. The kind of eyes they had were ones that had seen the worst and lived. Sakura had the lightest eyes in that regard, but Zane's eyes were something else entirely.

"We are more than welcome to do that choice. I wouldn't denial someone a chance to live on their original planet peacefully." Zane said as a flash of sorrow appeared in his body language. Once again Pie was the only one that noticed it.

"Where are you going next?" Zakuro trying to get a read on Zane that would warrant the feeling danger she and the other Mew Mews felt in the back of their minds every time they were near him. "I have to bail out an acquaintance of mine that I haven't seen in a decade. I only talked to Dante about an hour but he's the type of person you find hard to forget for good and bad reasons." Zane said chuckling to himself.

"He's gotten himself stranded but not helpless. In his words 'It'd be great if you could swing by and help out a pal. I'll buy you some pizza and Strawberry sundaes. I'm in no hurry and the party is lively.'." Zane does a good impression of Dante's speech pattern, rolling his eyes. "Knowing his track record, it takes more than that place to kill him. In fact, he's raising hell for the angry locals as we speak."

 **Author's note: That concludes this chapter. Next chapter will have spoilers for the newest Devil May Cry game. Keep an eye out for a stroll through Hell and acquiring a new weapon via extreme violence. I'm not sure anyone noticed but all the chapter titles so far have been song titles to the Japanese band The Pillows. I'll be using a different band moving on from this point, but you should check out their music.**


	18. Valley of the Damned

**Welcome to the next chapter! Let's get started. It starts six weeks after the last chapter. Spoilers for DMC 5, Star vs the Forces of Evil and some other things.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 18: Valley of the Damned**

Netherworld (Devil May Cry version)

Zane followed the scattered, but freshly killed, corpses of demons. It'd lead him right to Dante, based on the blade and bullet wounds. It wasn't long before Zane caught up to Dante. A white haired, cocky half devil wearing a stylish red leather jacket and black leather pants, carrying an oversized demonic sword and a pair of guns holstered on his belt. He was fighting a double decker bus sized clam covered in barbed spikes and smelled of moss or algae, Zane wasn't sure this far away.

Dante seemed to be having a hard time. That can't be right? There was a man that looked like him but was wielding a katana style sword and wear a blue jacket. As far as Zane knew, Vergil, Dante's brother, was dead, yet here he was fighting the achiváda (Greek for clam) from hell alongside Dante.

They were set flying but landing on their feet near Zane. "I see your brother shares your inability to die like a normal person, Dante." Zane says analyzing the achiváda demon. "Dante, is this the backup you said was coming?" Vergil said gauging Zane's power. "I met Zane years ago, back then he was weaker and had the 'I will kill that man slowly and painfully' vibe about him. He also wasn't part devil. A lot happened in the last decade." Dante said confused inspecting Zane as the demon was slowly approaching them. A pair of vengeful eyes gleamed in the darkness that was the inside of its shell.

"Digital devil. I made a fair deal with the digital equivalent of Satan and we are both happy with the outcome." Zane corrected firmly. Seeing the looks of disbelief on their faces, he added, "There is a clause that states we must help deal with the other's enemies if or when they appear to cause trouble." Vergil scoffs. "another fool bound by a deal made with a demon."

"He's the one that trapped in my body until I die, so he got the short end of the stick." Zane pointed out as Daemon chuckled mentally. "Well done Zane. You outsmarted a devil and reaped the better reward. Do you have anything that can deal with a rebellious seafood platter that is impervious to bladed weapons?" Dante points a thumb at the approaching demon. They weren't kidding, the achiváda demon had turned itself blade proof to get revenge on Sparda, who's sword skills were legendary. It also siphoned a little energy every time you strike it.

Zane sets Bite of Agony down and leans on it in thought. "I don't think the acid will be worth the energy lost with each strike and the Keyblade is still a blade." Zane said out loud as they look at his weapon. "Where did you get this angry axe?" He sniffs it. "The acid is strong enough to melt the shell, but any damage done would be healed by the leeched energy. So, it's not worth it. The walking Clam Bake has armor that is thick enough to tank even Yamato." Dante say mocking his brother's sword.

"That's it! clam bake!" Zane says grinning. "Can you keep that overgrown achiváda from moving?" Zane asked them. "with ease." Vergil scoffs. "I like the way you think. Let's rock!" Dante says grinning madly. As they slash at the demon it laughs in a deep male-ish voice "It is futile, spawn of Sparda! No blade will ever scratch my shell." Zane was moving about placing runes. It took about 40 seconds, but it was ready.

"Hey! Achiváda, you ready to meet your end?" Zane yelled as Dante and Vergil get out of the way. "Grand Scale: Day of Destruction!" Zane calls as a circle appears under the demon and a barrier traps him. "You will fail, filthy human!" The demon said then stopped as the heat in the circle started to raise rapidly. "What did you do? Tell me!" Dante, grinning, answered. "He's cooking you up to eat. The soup of the day is clam chowder, enjoy!"

The demon screamed in agony as flames consumed everything in the circle. Grand Scale: Day of Destruction was an attack that trapped the target in the circle then bathed the area in flames so hot it was like a supernova going off for a full minute. As the attack ended, all that was left was the empty shell and ashes in the wind. "It seems you used too much heat, there's no meat left." Dante quips, whistling amazed. "Heads up." Vergil said as the shell condensed into a ball of light then floated to Zane.

"Zane. You have defeated me in ways I never imagined. Use me proudly! I am Apólyto Toícho (Greek for Absolute Wall.)" The defeated demon said as he turned into a Devil Arm. A pair of shell themed buckler shields appeared on Zane's arms. They looked like halves of one shield that could interlock together to form a shield that covered his whole body. Each shield had spikes to capture weapons then drain some energy from the attack over time. The shields looked a rusty copper color with splotches of moss covering them.

Putting the halves together made a forcefield that covered five meters around him. Dante walked around Zane impressed. "Not bad. More of a counterattacking weapon but it's nice." Dante said as the shield shot a spike at him. "silence! Spawn of Sparda, you didn't even scratch me. You have no right to talk down to me like that." The demon may have turned into a Devil Arm, but he would not let Dante's mocking assessment go unpunished. Zane put Apólyto Toícho into in the same 'hammer space' as the rest of the stuff that he carried around.

"Your plan was worth the effort. How do you plan to get us out of here?" Vergil said with a hint of respect. Zane grabs onto them then uses Alice Gate to teleport to The Garden.

The Garden

Near the Fountain

With a crash they land with Zane on the bottom. "Nice place." Dante says jumping off the pile letting Vergil up. "Welcome to the Prize Kingdom. Don't start any fights or I will kick you out on your ass." Zane warned dusting himself off. "Lord Zane. Welcome Back." Hannah said bowing. "I see you saved the devil spawn and his power hungry, not dead, brother" Dark Chirithy said blandly. "I didn't know toys could have a mouth like that." Dante said amused, not rising to the bait.

"Can you not antagonize them? I had to use a lot of mana to save them from a heavily armored demon. Can you tell Aqua that I'm back? It took a few days to track them down." Zane said and Hannah and Dark Chirithy leave for the palace. "You're the king of this place? You come a long way." Dante says. The citizens of the kingdom walk up and greet him warmly. Of the citizens, there was some new members to the kingdom. A yellow trimmed silver box with circles or stars on the sides, walking on four spidery legs, called a Prize Bug. It had a yellow eye in the center of the star outline on its front panel. They were skittish data bug creatures that Samuel found at some point on the net.

"You have weird loyal subjects." Dante pointed out as Vergil's hand drifted to his weapon but didn't draw it. "Please don't mock them. They are misfits and pacifists that wished to live away from conflict. Samuel, the living AI I created, keeps an eye out for digital intruders and there are others that patrol for physical ones. Mind the rules and you may enjoy your stay." Zane outlined as his subjects' eyes sparkled with pride.

"wait! You made a deal with digital Satan, then made an AI named Samuel?" Dante asked as he and Vergil started laughing at a joke they just got. "What's so funny?" Zane asked. Coolly, Vergil said "Samuel, the 'Poison of God' was the Angel of Death. He was said to have fell from grace and pledged to be Satan's right-hand man in some legends." Zane started laughing too. Samuel must have known that when he picked his name. It was an ironically fitting name. It was rare for Dante and Vergil to agree on something let alone find something amusing enough to share a laugh about.

Calming down Zane walked up to one of the newer Prize Bugs that just arrived the day before. "I hope you were greeted warmly on arrival." The Prize Bug nodded with a question on its mind. "You want to hear some music. I'll be happy to oblige." Zane said patting it on its top. He sat on the edge of fountain with Margret, his guitar, in hand. His subjects watched silently as he started to play.

It was any defined song, just a stream of notes and cords that flowed together into a peaceful melody. This is what drew the peaceful heartless to Zane in the Realm of Darkness. Everything just seemed unimportant compared to listening to Zane weaving the magic known as music. As Zane finished, they cheered, and he bowed.

"Dear, a letter came for you from a Glossaryck?" Aqua said check if she was reading the name right. Zane knew that name somewhere. "Oh right! The customer that buys Chocolate Pudding Paradise Ice Cream all the time." Zane said. The letter was more of a scroll but that's how Glossaryck ordered things. He also paid in gold and jewel, hinting that he was from some magical place. Zane opened the scroll scanned it. It was blank save for a snowflake in the corner. "It's coded." Zane rolled it back up and asked Dante, "Why were you and your brother in the Netherworld?"

"It was his fault." Dante says gesturing at Vergil who didn't deny it. "Unleashed a demon tree that drinks only human blood, only to have his ass kicked by his own son in the end. Then we had to seal the portal on the Netherworld side after carving up the tree." Dante summarized. "We were stuck there for an unknown length of time. But I know it haven't been a full year yet. What's the score at?" Vergil answered "27,984-27,985 with me in the lead." He was smirking at Dante.

Even after they were no longer trying to kill each other they still tried to be better like the good brothers they were.

A few days later

The Garden

Zane's Office in the Palace

Dante and Vergil were dropped off back at their world and Zane trying to decode the stupid scroll. It had so many codes layered in it. Normally he just did a few codes because he was annoyingly cryptic, but this was far more important than an ice cream order. After five more codes he decoded it completely.

"Dear friend and supplier,

By the time you've decoded this, I have cleared up the schedule and got you the opportunity for you to visit Mewni. Come by in week and bring the scroll with you.

Sincerely,

Glossaryck"

Zane knew there was more to scroll. That miniature, blue skinned, bearded, gen headed, yellow monk robed troll had an endgame in mind. He never says what's really going on until after you figure it out yourself. It what made him so frustrating to deal with. From what he knew about Mewni, it was a kingdom run by the Butterfly family. The Queen had more power than the King did, and the first-born female was the hair to the throne unless something happened to prevent that.

That were kingdoms that bordered it and monsters weren't welcomed as far as he knew. Zane had never been there so who knows what he'd be finding. He did know they loved corn there. The closest he had been to reaching Mewni, was when he stumbled upon the Realm of Magic. A magical dimension filled with yellow liquid magic, crystal outcrops, and a type of unicorn called Millhorses. It was a very weird place and he was lucky not to get 'starry eyed'. Basically, anyone that goes there forgets things and acts like they are high.

Luckily, He was going to use a safer method to get to Mewni. Knowing that he was going to meet royalty, he'd need to look the part and bring gifts. He was sure he had a book on corn-based recipes somewhere. He also had to figure out who he was bringing with him. Aqua and Sakura were a given.

He was looking at the stacks of profiles on his desk when the radio crackled to life. The smooth male voice of Cecil Gershwin Palmer was heard from it as the news report from Night Vale Community Radio started. "It's that time already? Let see what is happening the town of Night Vale this time." Zane said and listened to Cecil's report. (Welcome to Night Vale is cool podcast to listen to.)

He never could find the place where Night Vale was or how this old radio appeared in his office and couldn't be moved from its spot, floating exactly between the floor and the ceiling. It only ever played one station the one about Night Vale. Rarely, it plays something different but just as strange as news from Night Vale. Zane was always present when it started each report making Zane think that Night Vale was someplace out of time. As he had searched for Night Vale, he was told to stop before it was too late via a letter by someone named Erika.

He did so and was sure it was the best choice based on some the reports he heard. After some searching, he got the 'guards' selected. He'd bring six Black Fungus with Hannah and Dark Chirithy leading them. Some of the Barriermasters, Runemasters, and Bookmasters will cover the blind spots. Those heartless looked like small robed beings carrying oversized books as weapons, which they used to hit at close range. All three were immune to all elemental magics but spells like Reflect and Magnet still worked. Runemasters and Bookmasters used elemental magic, but Runemaster cannot be harmed from the front. Barriermasters, on the other hand, placed spells on allies making them impervious to harm.

All in all, it was a good selection. Those Master Heartless were oddballs even among other Master Heartless. About fifty of them just appeared in the Garden and requested to stay there. They weren't spies or sleeper agents. They just wanted to read books in peace, being ruled by Zane was fine by them.

A week later

Mewni (post final episode)

"This is weird." Zane commented as they exited the Plains of Time, where Father Time lived. His pedaling made time move in the dimensions connected to Mewni. Mewni had been alatered at some point. Somehow, the earth connected to Mewni fused with Mewni, creating a place where humans and Mewmans(The humans that were touched by the Realm of Magic then settled in Mewni and their descendants) lived with monsters. The Monster Temple and town near it was damaged. Butterfly Castle was in worse shape. The last thing that stood out was this skull headed butterfly shaped path of destruction.

"what the?" Zane looked at the scroll, it now read,

"If you are seeing this then the Realm of Magic was destroyed, me along with it. What I need you to do is teach them magic not connected to the Realm of Magic. Sure, it may cause trouble but I'm sure they learned their lesson. My one regret is that I won't be able to enjoy your ice cream. Good Luck!"

"That little blue troll! He knew this would happen!" Zane ranted as short blonde hair and bearded man in a bear suit approached them. "Hello there. You look to be royalty, but I do remember you." He eyed Zane, Aqua and Sakura's royal attire, all of them had the motif of the Prize Kingdom somewhere on it. "I am River Butterfly." He extends a hand that Zane shakes firmly. "You have a strong grip. Who are the creatures you brought with you?"

Zane didn't mind the questions River was asking. "These are my subjects. I am King Zane Laskaris. Founder of the Prize Kingdom. With me is my wife Aqua, my daughter Sakura, and the two that help me keep the peace, Hannah and Dark Chirithy." Zane indicated each one. "Well, they aren't a beautiful and my wife and daughter, but they come close." River and Zane at that. They were family men that loved their family more than the world. Zane had a feeling they'd get along just fine.

"Not to sound rude, but why the bear suit?" Aqua asked. River laughed "To hunt of course! The pray think it's a bear hunting them, but it is me!" River passionately explained. "That nice and all, but what caused the Realm of Magic to be destroyed." Dark Chirithy asked thinking River was crazy. "Oh. A few days ago, there was an army of Solarian Warriors and it was the only way to stop them. Things got a little weird immediately after, but things are getting worked out." River explains then puzzled asked "How did you get here? My Moon Pie (The pet name for his wife, Moon Butterfly) said that they destroyed Magic?"

"We used magic not connected to that place. A pudding loving cryptic blue dude invited us here. He never explained that he meant for me to teach magic to you guys." Zane said and River nodded "That sounds like him. Never explains until you already know the answer. We aren't royalty anymore, so you need to talk to Eclipsa and Globgor. They are the rulers of Mewni with the Monster Temple as the palace. It's this way." He leads them towards Monster Temple.

Monster Town

At the base of Monster Temple

Moon Butterfly the former mewni queen was helping rebuild the town. She had her blue hair in a long braid. "Mom, do you know where dad is?" Star, her daughter, asked. Star had her blonde hair loose wearing a horned headband. "He's out hunting. Would you give me a hand with stank of orders?" Star takes half the scrolls from her mother. "These need to be signed by Eclipsa so we can get the supplies we need to do repairs." Moon explained.

They stopped short as River came around the bend with Zane's group. "I thought you said he was hunting." Star whispers. "He was. They must have run into him on the way here. I have no idea who or what they are." Moon whispers back. "Moon Pie! Can you lead them to Eclipsa?" Rivers yells. Sighing Moon yells back "Of course dear. I was headed that way." River leaves to continue hunting.

"You must be his wife and daughter he adores." Zane introduces everyone for second time that day. "Wait! You are the supplier that he bought the ice cream from? He kept on singing praises about it." Star says annoyed. "He was cryptic to the end. You use magic not connected that place?" Moon asked "Yes. It's not as easy to use as your old magic but it's safer in some respects." Zane said as the climbed the stairs.

"It requires power, imagination with a sprinkle of talent to use the magics I intend to teach. Anyone can learn the basics, but it's the ones that push the limits that can make interesting results." Zane said making a miniature parade of heartless shaped flames. Star's eyes sparkled. "I can tell you will be quite creative. Anything I should be worried about?" A screaming baby was heard from the Monster Temple. "Meteora is throwing a tantrum again." Star said recognizing the noise. "An attention tantrum or a teething tantrum?" Zane asked. "Teething most likely. She is about that age." Moon commented as the noise got louder the closer, they got.

Monster Temple

Entering the temple show that it was mostly intact. Holes were being patched as a red skinned tiger striped monster with four eyes and white hair in a top note cradled a screaming half mewman baby with a tail in his arms. "Sir! I might be able to help!" Zane yelled. The monster, Globgor, looking willing to do anything nodded. Zane cast a Cure spell on the baby, Meteora. Meteora stopped screaming, looking at the flowers sprinkling green particles on her as her pain faded for the moment. "Thank you. I wasn't sure how much longer the workers could handle it." Globgor said as Meteora pouted at the flowers disappearing.

She demanded more flowers in garbled baby speech. Chuckling Zane made random object of fire and juggled them for her. Meteora laughed and clapped as a pale skinned, puffy teal haired woman wearing a dark purple gothic dress and hat came in worried. She stared then smiled at them. "thank you for that. What can we do for you?" Eclipsa said to Zane who bowed dismissing the creations. "I came because that blue skinned troll thought that you'd need a different magic system. I can see why you'll need the Cure spell."

"A new magic system? Interesting. Wait a second! You are one the that sells the Snookers Bar Ice Cream!" She hugs him tightly then says "Thank you for coming. I was hoping to cut a deal to have you send me more of it with a balk discount, please." Eclipsa clearly loved that candy bar. "I'll think about it. Please let go." Zane said and she blushed backing off.

A Latino American teenager with brown hair and tan skin and mole on his face wearing a red hoody, blue jeans and white sneakers. He was carrying his baby sister who looked like him, she even had the same mole. This was Marco, the teen, and Mariposa Diaz, his baby sister. "Star. Did you find the teething medicine?" Marco said that pointed at Zane saying "Wrath Lord! Why are you here?" Zane had run into him in a dimension known as Dimension X-103. Time was much faster there making minutes on mewni, years there.

"Hey there Marco. You are looking much younger than you were in X-103. Glossaryck invited me." Zane said not phased in the slightest. Mariposa stares at Dark Chirithy with wide sparkling eyes. Dark Chirithy nervously backs way. He did not want to be drooled on by some handsy baby. "What's with the five mushroom dudes?" Marco asks Zane counts and finds that one of the Black Fungus and a Runemaster were missing. "This is not good. If no one attacks the Black Fungus, it will be fine." Zane said to himself.

"What do you mean if no one attacks the 'Black Fungus'?" Eclipsa asks. "They can become momentarily invulnerable then slew a poison gas cloud when attacked. I ordered them not to release fatal poison so at worst the victim will be violently ill. They will need to see a doctor or suffer until the poison is flushed from their system naturally." Zane commented. Moon gasped remembering something. "River left with a pair of your subjects. I didn't say anything because it didn't seem important. They are most likely helping him hunt."

"I hope they return safely." Zane said massaging his face. "I brought a book on corn-based recipes and a handful of other books you might like. Who wants to learn some magic?" As they got the details worked out. Something was happening elsewhere.

Somewhere in the forests of Mewni

"This way. I smell prey." River Butterfly said sneaking away as the Black Fungus and Runemaster shrugged and followed him. They were interested in this odd person. Mewmans seemed to be just as weird as humans could be. King Zane was kind but acted like he didn't deserve to be their king. Clearly, he didn't understand it was the least they could do to repay the kindness he gave them. Maybe studying other people would give them insight, this mewman would be a good addition to the research subjects.

They made mental notes about River's actions and personality quirks as they followed him silently. They found this thin looking female mewman wearing a dress and a metal helmet with purple hair done in a pair of buns and long pigtails one was shorter than the other. It looked damaged like her clothes were. She dived at the Black Fungus with a sword raised. "Die monster!" she yelled. The Heartless knew his orders so he blasted her with poison. She dropped her weapon and turned a sickly green hue as she passed out moaning like a zombie. "Mina Loveberry?" River said poking the attacker. "You need to see a doctor." He picks Mina up like a sack of potatoes. The Heartless just shrug and follow him as he heads back to Monster Town.

A few hours later

Monster Temple

Infirmary

I have no words to described this." Zane said as Aqua worked to heal the out cold Mina Loveberry. They had cuffed her for her crimes in the past and she was to get mental help. "When you said it was not fatal, I wasn't expecting total body shutdown." Marco said pale. Sighing Zane explained that Mina was hit with a mild level of poison gas but given her prior condition, she reacted badly to the gas.

"She will get the help she needs. Maybe she will be deemed mentally sound at some point." Moon said sadly as Mina's skin returned to a normal, if a bit pale, shade. "I can't do much more for her. Her body is healed but her mind and heart are in such turmoil. I don't know when she will wake ether." Aqua stated as she finished. "I'm afraid my mother is responsible for that." Eclipsa said sadly.

"Creating berserk warriors always has some side effect on the body and mind. Take it from me, Wrath is a powerful thing but if left alone it can turn into a senseless force." Zane said reminiscing. "Why did Marco call you Wrath Lord?" Globgor asked entering the room to pass Meteora to Eclipsa. "I'll explain somewhere else. Could you keep an eye on her?" Aqua knew what Zane had to say.

Monster Temple

Dining area

"As I'm sure you know everyone has a fatal flaw, a weakness that cannot be removed. For some it's being too loyal, others, a burning wrath that consumes all that it's aimed at." Zane started with. The babies were taking a nap and River 'borrowed' the Heartless to go hunting. Moon, Star, Globgor, Eclipsa, and finally Marco were seated as Sakura illustrated what her Father said. "I can probably guess what my flaw is." Zane said and they here silent save Marco. "wrath fueled by love. You mowed down armies to protect people."

"That's right. I'd say that it was at its worst when I was trapped in that place. It whispered to me that the only way to get that traitor was to let it in. Let Darkness consume me, and it would insure he suffered a painful death." They gasped in horror and dread at the idea of that space. "How exactly did you get out?" Eclipsa asked worried.

Chuckling Zane said, "After making a deal with another being lost in the dark, I waited for help to come. IT was not happy with that, so it sent agents to break my spirit. They failed. Almost two years I was trapped in that hell with a digital devil in my head, music to stay sane, and a few desires that would not let me die." Dark Chirithy added "and the blessing/curse of a goddess to save your sorry ass. If those mushroom heartless didn't like your music, you would be dead by the end of the first year."

"Is that place still angry at you?" Star asked worried. "I think that is still an Anti-Zane waiting for the chance to strike. I more worried that that ass of a computer King Drasil will send more Royal Knights to 'detain' me for raising an army to 'take over the digital world'." Zane said then explained the digiworld to them and how Zane and Sakura played into its history.

"wow. She's princess, a knight, magic user, and can screw with physics. Awesome." Star said impressed with Sakura. "Is there anything you can do to help Mina?" Moon asked. "I have no idea what it will take to heal her. She's been like that for a long time. I can try but she must want to heal for it to stick. We'll focus on learning the magic so you can deal with problems that don't stay down no matter how many times you punch them."

"Yeah. Learning a little magic never hurt. Mariposa will love to learn some magic. When she's older, teaching magic to babies is not a good idea." Marco says. Zane just laughed as a blast like a tiny firework goes off in the babies' room. "A little too late for that. Meteora figured the groundwork for the Balloon spell and is trying to teach it your sister."

"WHAT!" Macro said with dread as more of the same sounds happened. "Don't worry. All she's making is glowing colorful orbs that burst making sound. She's don't have the explosion force component added to it." Giggling and clapping was heard. "See, they're having fun." Zane pointed out as Marco puts his face on the table saying "why?"

The others were hiding their smiles and laughter. "Come on Marco, they are having harmless fun." Star sayings as laughs snuck their way out. "Speaking of magic, you seem to have a talent of the darker side of the spells, Marco, Eclipsa." Zane says. Eclipsa was understandable, after all she created quite a few dark spells in the past. Marco was a mystery, so Zane asked, "It's not evil or anything, just more destructive and harder to control. Did you encounter dark magic in a very personal way?"

Marco just said, "I got stabbed by a unicorn." Zane guessed he meant a tainted Millhorse from the Realm of Magic. "That would do it. Just keep your heart strong and don't let the temptation make you fall. Hannah here knows a thing or two about those spells." Hannah nods. She'd be willing to teach what she knew.

A few weeks later

Place between minds

"I'm not saying she was wrong just that she used a method that was a little costly in long term." Zane said as he and Mina Loveberry sat in a mental plan that shifted every which way as 'time' passed. "How so? She made us strong!" Mina said confidently. "She made you an angry rampaging warrior in a troubling time when mental health wasn't as important as it should have been." Zane explained how Vikings got high on a plant to pillage and slaughter towns like unpredictable mad beasts.

Mina's face show doubt as she drew parallels to what Queen Solaria Butterfly did. "I guess you have a point. But monsters need to be destroyed! They plot to destroy the mewmans and take the kingdom." Mina countered. Nodding at her logic Zane stated. "Mewmans are human, making monsters the original owners of the land. Here's proof." He shows her the truth. He drives the next point harder. "Are all mewmans good?"

"No. there are some nasty ones that were worse than monsters." Mina said. "Exactly. Not everyone is the same. Same can be said with monsters. All I ask is when you wake up, is to see a therapist and talk about your views. Maybe you will notice something you missed. Keep an open mind and live a little. I grantee you that there is be a place for you in the current world." Zane said hoping she would give it a chance.

"So, all I have to do is talk to someone then get a job that fits me? You aren't that bad a guy, even if you are a king of monsters. How do I wake up?" Mina said unsure. "It's up to you. Want it hard enough and it might happen." Zane said ending the session.

Monster Temple

Infirmary

"She's not a dead set as she was at the start. Best bet is she does her sentence then finds some place that will be a good fit." Zane said wiping away the runes on Mina's and his forehead. "That is quite an interesting use of runes. What did you do?" Eclipsa asked. "I used the runes to connect my mind with her in a space that is neither here nor there. Do you know how long I was in X-103?" Zane asked

"A few decades?" She guessed. "A few millennia. I explored the whole place in the first three decades then protected this one mountain in the Neverzone for the rest of the time. There was a group of witches who I befriended over the years. They had a lot of ideas for uses of runes. In return I protected their mountain from power hungry armies that came knocking. I'm one of the reasons that place is a barren wasteland." Zane explained. "The good news is that I refined my mastery of fire quite a bit in that time."

"How were you alive that long?" She asked. "I think Daemon boosted my lifespan on top of the boost I get from being the Hearth leader and a few other factors adding to it. I'd say I'll live to 10,000 years unless something kills me for good. It gets harder to kill someone like me as time goes by. I'm still mortal, just long lived. Besides the amount of time in X-103 only was 25 hours here."

"That is amazing. Would you mind teaching me runes?" Eclipsa asks. Zane stares then laughs. "Sure, but I have to warn you, I am bound by a contract to put a student I take through the same training method I was put through." Eclipsa asked worried. "What method?" Zane listed some of the things he was put through. "creating runes while dodging projectiles, not being distracted when using unstable runes, learning to wield a spear with live weapons."

"That sounds like a dedicated professional trainer. Not the safest method but yield favorable students when they graduate. I'm willing to try it." She said nodding to herself. "Really? The only one I got to agree to learn was my Daughter. Anyone else called me crazy and declined." Zane said. "I delved into dark magics, so this reminds me of those days when one misstep meant a nasty fate." She said smiling fondly.

"That's great! I can't wait to see how you use the runes I teach you." Zane said quite happy. "dip down." Meteora said as she crawled into the room. "Dip down? Are you saying you want to learn another spell?" Zane asked the baby who nodded "What kind?" Zane asked her. She sits thinking then garbles something that sounded like 'soaker'. "Water spell it is. Is that ok with you?" He says to Eclipsa, who as the mother had some control over what her baby learned. "I don't see the hard in her learning that element." She said picking up Meteora.

"Ok. To cast the Water spell, you need to think about water. How it looks, feels, tastes, acts, and things like that. Next you need to want it to appear. Only make as must as you need, or you will wash everything away and leave you drained. You got it so far?" Zane explains as simply as possible. Meteora nodded.

"Now the last step is to make it move how you want it to. How it moves and how fast are important. Give it a try." Zane says cheerfully. Meteroa scrunches up her face and Zane could feel her using magic. Then she giggles as Marco yells outside. "Hey! Who dumped water on me?" Zane laughs "You are a little trickster, aren't you?" Meteora beams with pride.

A few days later

Monster Temple

Infirmary

Zane was watching Mina Loveberry's comatose body reading a book. They had decided to take shifts in case she woke up and tried to escape. "I'm FREE!" She shouted shooting up in the bed. Turning a page, Zane commented not looking up. "You will find that you are chained to the bed." She tests the chains and huffs annoyed. "Drat. You got any more legends or movies to show me?" She asks. "You seem to enjoy the monster movies a lot." Zane comments chuckling. He had shown her various movies and told her legends that showed monsters as more than just evil beasts. "There were amazing. Those humans are great at what they do. Can dropping bombs make a creature like Godzilla for real? Because he's a walking disaster." She asks.

"As Far as I know, that's an extremely unlikely outcome. Possible, but too many things could go wrong leading up to that result. It's too unethical to even try. You will be sent to where you shall carry out your sentence of ten years with a chance of early release." Zane stated as guards came to escort her. "I'll get out early for sure!" She yelled as they shackled her and lead her away.

Moon Butterfly came into the room not long after they left. "How was she?" Zane turns a page. "active and willing to do anything to get out early. If she plans her cards right, she will be happy, healthy, and have a nice job." Zane's voice was calm. "She still hates monsters, but she'll keep it to herself. I think she wants to be a movie critic."

Arching a brow Moon asked "A movie Critic? Why that job?" He explained the method he used to remove some of the ideas programed into her. "If that's what she wants, then she can pursue it." Moon says then annoyed asked "What are you reading that is so important that you don't look at the people talking to you?"

Without looking at her, he answers. "The journal of my ancestor who made a choice that echoes to this day and beyond. It's a little dry but very enlightening on what was going through his head. Barak Laskaris is a name that is etched into history even if only a few knew the importance of him." His phone rings and he answered it "Hello, this is Zane speaking." He stills. "Yes, I am the one that stopped the serial killer." He winces. "Mrs. Kawajiri, I understand that your husband was killed because the killers ally tried to get revenge. He was just one of the people caught in the crossfire."

Moon didn't hear what was said but the angry sobbing voice yelling over the phone let her get a good idea. "I understand." He paused. "Mrs. Kawajiri? Are you still there?" Moon faintly hears a new voice, young and male sounding. "You're her son, Hayato? The Speedwagon Foundation is willing to help you? That's great. I will help however I can." He listens. "So, you are aware of what truly happened, but your mother isn't. I hope you don't get into trouble." Zane hangs up.

"That's one loose end dealt with. You deal with a killer only for his father to raise an army to avenge his sociopathic son. That's what I get for helping the Jostar Clan." Zane said with a sigh. Both his clan and the Jostar clan seemed have the same crazy adventure attracting luck. He wondered what kind of job Inari had for Sakura to ask for help.

With Sakura

Yokai Earth (Based on the Rosario + Vampire manga)

Yokai Academy

Public Safety Committee building

Kuyō, a blonde-haired Yōko (spirit Kitsune) with golden eyes and elven features, stared at the female that dared to defy him. A girl carrying a mirror that burned with starry flames he knew and feared. Why was a user of the Void Flames here? Void and Celestial were the strongest flames that a Kitsune could wield. He didn't show fear but behind his calm mask, his mind raced. "Why are you here? This is PSC HQ and not open to visitors." The girl walked forward as the mirror drifted around her lazily. "I regret to inform you that your serves as head of the PSC are no longer required. You are to empty your office and hand in your badge in the hour. The order comes from the Headmaster and someone high on the food chain." She throws a document with Headmaster Tenmei Mikogami's signature and Inari's personal seal on it.

"NO! I refuse. Not after that human and that group of human loving traitors made a fool out of me!" Kuyō yelled turning into a golden four tailed kitsune, his true form, and sent an attack from his tails called 'Vortex of Fire'. The cyclone of five fireballs were 'eaten' by the Void Flames. "I see that you are unwilling to take retirement with pride intact." Sakura says as Kuyō entered battle form, a biped version of his true form optimized for combat.

"It doesn't matter if you use the Void. My spirit flames with burn you to ciders!" Kuyō yells sending a much stronger version of his last attack. Sakura sighed. They always took being fired badly. She hoped the Headmaster would cover the cost to repair the place.

20 minutes later

Yokai academy Infirmary

Tsukune Aono, a black-haired human who had been enrolled at a school for monsters despite the fact any human that found this place was to be killed according to the rules. He and his friends laid on bed and recovered from the fight with Kuyō that nearly killed them.

Moka Akashiya, a pink haired vampire whose hair turned silver when her power was unleashed by removing the rosario cross around her neck. She was his first friend here and the first member of the 'harem' of girls who, to his despair for an easy life, fell for him as the year went by. Kurumu Kurono, a blue haired busty succubus, who proclaimed him her 'destined one'. Yukari Sendō an 11-year-old genius witch who 'fell in love' with him and Moka. And to finish off the list of love interests, Mizore Shirayuki, a Yuki-onna with light purple hair who stalked him for a time before staking her claim as his love interest. It was rough on his nerves dealing with the daily craziness.

They all were a part of the Newspaper Club lead by Ginei Morioka, also called Gin, a perverted dark-haired werewolf. Shizuka Nekonome, the laid-back blonde Nekomusume, was their homeroom teacher and club adviser. She was checking in on them was the door to the infirmary opened as a nine tailed kitsune with a floating mirror carried a burned and bloodied Kuyō with her tails. He looked like barely alive as she set him on an open bed then strapped him down and cuffed him to it.

"If only you left with grace, I wouldn't had to drive this lesson so harshly. It is only by Inari's mercy that you live." Sakura said scornfully at Kuyō. Shizuka worried said "Oh my! I don't recognize you. Did the Headmaster call you here?" Sakura returned to human form then bowed. "Yes. My name is Sakura Laskaris and I am the new head of the PSC by order of the Headmaster and Inari herself." They froze for different reasons. Tsukune, because even he knew who Inari was. And the others froze because they knew of the Laskaris Clan. The watchers found in the shadows and around the hearth. They heard of the countless treasures that the clan guarded.

The heavily bandaged Gin asked, "I thought that clan was human?" Sakura smiled secretively, "You will find that the supernatural leave their mark on my clan even as we remain humans at our core. There will be an assembly in a few days to outline the changes that will be made to the PSC's policies. Good day." Sakura says returning to the PSC HQ to clean house. "Who are the Laskaris Clan?" Tsukune asked in the dark. "The Laskaris clan is a group of humans who founded the secretive order called 'The Children of the Hearth'. Details about the founder, Barak Laskaris, is mystery to everyone but his clan. What is important is that the Hearth Leader, the head of the group, is always been a Laskaris clan member." Yukari explained. "The Children of the Hearth have the largest number of relics and knowledge eclipsing the Great Library of Alexandrea greatly, according to rumors. And it grows as the years go by."

This was bedtime stories, based on reality, that the supernatural world told their children to keep them from crossing the wrong people and biting off more than you could chew. "Get what you are saying but how does some Greek dude become so scary that the whole supernatural world is scared of stepping on their toes?" Tsukune asked.

With a haunted look, Gin said "about nine years ago, I had a stupid idea and tried to steal something from them. Because I was young, they threw me into a book for a year, I kept count of the days. Time is strange there, when I got out only a week had passed by." This was new information to them. No one knew what happened to thieves.

"What did this book look like on the inside?" Kurumu asked imagining it looked like pages. "a field of flowers as far as the eyes can see. A couple trees and harmless bugs and lone tower in the center were the only things there. The worst part was, that they trapped be in the very book I tried to steal." Gin said wistfully. "Why would you steal a book?" Kurumu asked. "It's a rare book called 'Memory of Avalon'. Said to be the only book to describe the Ever-Distant Utopia faithfully. I had the crazy idea to steal it then make a killing loaning it to out for a price." Gin said as they gape.

"It wasn't the real place, just a copy made by the Fae using the memory of the place to weave a world in the form of a book as joke. Just a plain looking leather-bound book with the Fae's runes on the spine for the title." Gin said. "You were alone for a year with no one to talk to?" Moka said and Gin nodded. He did not age in that place nor did he need food or water. Then only thing to tell the time there was the day and night cycle.

"What else do you know?" Mizore asked thinking of the crazy treasures that everyone speculated about. "Not much. I tried to steal the book when they were negotiating with previous owner for it. One moment I was speeding towards the book to take it, then I was pinned to the floor with a fire poker, that screamed 'do not speak out of turn' to me, at my neck and a red cloaked man, wearing jewelry that told me it was one of THEM, staring at me more annoyed than angry. His voice was melodic, and he offered to give me what I wanted. I foolishly agreed and was throw into the book. The last thing I heard as it swallowed me was 'you are lucky he is so generous, you mutt.'" It had been the previous owner of the book, a rich snob who hated dogs with a passion.

"That was the Hearth Leader. They carry the 'speaking stick', the fire poker, unless it is in use at one of their meetings. It's one of the few things they've disclosed." Shizuka said as she smiled. "I've met him a few times, I think it was the same person but it hard to tell. He sold me a book on types of fish and where to find them. He also makes good grilled fish, even if it tastes better raw." They sigh. She was a cat after all.

"How strong is she if she curbstomped someone we had trouble with?" Moka asked pointing at their enemy who lay in bed near them. "very powerful. Easily in the realm of S rank monster strength." Shizuka said.

A few days later

PSC HQ

Sakura walked down the line of cells reviewing each of the students imprisoned there. Most were set free because their punishment was served, or they were falsely imprisoned. Of the few that remained, because they committed some of the nastier crimes, was a black-haired teen with dark brown eyes and always wear a mask. "Susan No last name, you murdered 37 students and 18 teachers before you were detained. My question is why?" Sakura asked outside of cell.

"Am I pretty?" was all Susan said. "Yes, you are. Please answer my question." Sakura said. Susan took off her mask, revealing a mouth slashed open. She was a Kuchisake-onna (slit mouthed woman). Susan repeated her question and Sakura said, "Yes you are. I'm sure you will find some that see that with out fear. Will you stop killing anyone that says no?" Susan stared silently as she put her mask back on.

"I see. You have kept up your grades up and look to be on the way to high honors. I can't let you out but at least you will graduate in a few years. When you do, you will be moved to somewhere else." Sakura said walking away. Some people were too set in their ways. She had a lot of work ahead of her, know she knew why Father hated paperwork so much.

The next day

Assembly hall

"As some of you may have noticed, many of the student detained by the PSC have been released. As the new leader of the PSC I took the time to review each case and act accordingly. I will be amending or abolishing the previous rules as needed. Rest assured I will be consulting the Headmaster before each change is done. I, Sakura Laskaris, swear on the river Styx that I will never be as vile as the previous leader was during my time as the leader of the PSC." Sakura says at the podium as loud thunder booms signifying that oath was binding.

The students and teachers mutter among themselves. How can there be one of THEM here? Humans were to be killed if they ever found their way here according to the rules. Sakura talked loudly saying "Yes I am human and from THAT clan. The first rule that was changed was the one regrading humans. It now states as such 'Any human that finds this place will be dealt with based on what they intend to do that information.'" There was a clamor. "QUIET! Not all humans are hell bent on kill you. Humans like that exists but not everyone is like that. This was approved by the Headmaster. That is all for now. Please have a nice day." She left the podium, ending the assembly.

A week later

PSC HQ

"You can't arrest someone for being a pervert without current proof." Sakura explained to Anubis who had brought gaged Gin to her office without warning. "Lady Sakura, I have proof. It is on the camera." Anubis hands over the camera. Gin had upgraded to a digital one after the Newspaper Club's budget increased. Sure enough, there was incriminating photos on it. Sighing, Sakura said. "Gin, for peeping on the female changing room, you will be imprisoned for 72 hours. Please rethink you habits." Gin gave a muffled sigh of relief as he's dragged away.

Yokai Academy

Newspaper Club room

"Where is that perverted mutt?" Kurumu asked waiting annoyed. Tsukune and his friends were waiting for him for the past hour. "He'll be here soon." Tsukune tried to be positive. The door opened and Mizore, sucking on a lollypop, said dryly "I don't think he's coming. Sakura's here." They turn to the door and Sakura was standing in the door frame with the camera in hand. "I'm sorry to say but Gin is in the doghouse for the next three days. He broke the rules and is being punished. He will be fed and watered even if he's a peeping tom." Sakura said as they sigh annoyed.

"trust that mutt to cross the new PSC leader's new rules. You said three days, right?" Kurumu asked. "Yes, that what his crime amounted to, this time." Sakura said handing over the camera. The evidence was taken from it already. "Could you do an interview for the paper? We'd love to hear more about you?" Sakura nodded then beckoned Anubis to enter with her.

"Where shall we start?" She asked as they offered a few chairs. "What is it like growing up in your clan?" Kurumu started with. "To sum it up, 'Chaotically welcoming'. You never know when the next crazy adventure starts. Right, Anubis?" She said smiling fondly. The Stand scoffs "Lady Sakura, you may enjoy that lifestyle, but I can hardly keep track of you at times. How I, your bodyguard, protect you if you are galivanting somewhere without warning?" Anubis slumped. "Lord Zane will surely scrape me one of these days. What is a sword to do when the one they guard is missing?"

They newspaper club snickered amused as Sakura patted Anubis on the shoulder. "This 'Lord Zane' gave you a Tsukumogami, named after the Egyptian god, as a bodyguard? What does he look like under his hood?" Moka asks. Anubis removes his hood to show the jackal head he had for a face. "Father found him and fixed him up with a body. Anubis has helped him since." Sakura said. "Thank you, Lady Sakura! Your kind words move me." Anubis weeping tears of joy.

The interview continues with questions about her family, rumors, new rules, the treasures she had found, and things like that. She answered some questions, but others were classified. "Thank you for sparing the time of day to enlighten us like you have." Kurumu said and bowed.

The next day

PSC HQ

Sakura read the latest issue of the school paper. The article was true to the letter and had some witty comments to it. She folded it up and throw it at into a portal hitting Gin, who was snoozing in his cell, on the head. "You may want to read this before you try to peek again." She pointed out as he looks for was woke him up.

"Did you have to wake me up like that?" Gin whined annoyed. He opens the paper. "Must be my lucky day to learn more about the warden who keeps me behind bars." He snarks.

A few weeks later

Yokai academy

Infirmary

Tsukune stared at the holy lock around his wrist. "It is as I feared. Moka's blood transfusions turned you into a Ghoul, temporarily. If you fall to far, for everyone's safety, I will deal with you. I know how to deal with ghouls." Sakura said coldly. Tsukune was in a cold sweat. "Please stop harassing the patients." A brown-haired woman wearing glasses and a nurse's outfit, Mako Yakumaru, said as Sakura's instincts screams danger. A blonde-haired doctor, Yutaka Yuji, sighed. "It's her job and sometimes it takes a touch of steel to deal with troublemakers." He said.

Mako's fingers turned into organic looking needles as the doctor was reading a chart. She tried to inject the doctor but screeched as Midnight Eclipse slammed into her arm, shattering the bones of her upper arm. "Doctor Yuji please get to safety." The doctor did as Sakura requested. "You will not stop ANTI-THESIS, you wretched child!" Mako yelled pained then screamed again as her other upper arm was shattered the same way. Mako arms hung limply at her side as she glared.

"I know about you troublemakers. I was content to let the Headmaster deal with you. Then you tried to attack a place that is 'safe'. The infirmary is a place the wounded can recover in peace. Yet you see fit to ruin that 'safety'. Be thankful that a pair of broken arms and concussion is all you suffer." Sakura said. "what concussion?" Mako asked confused but was answered by a magic staff slamming into her head with a crack. Mako fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Good timing Ruby. Did the Headmaster send you?" Sakura said to the crow witch, named Ruby Tōjō. She had black hair with amused scarlet eyes. "Your skill at breaking bones is as good as the Headmaster said it was. If I had to guess, she'll have a at least 6 months of painful recovery ahead of her." The out cold Mako was lifted on magic strings and set on an empty bed. "The Headmaster would like to remind you that you are the last resort against ANTI-THESIS's plans." Ruby said.

"I understand. The Headmaster's scheming is annoying. I will go along with his plans for now, only because there is a lot of back logs to work through. The PSC is a mess of unorganized records and rules that need to be fixed." Sakura said leaving Tsukune to wonder how fast it'd take to rule the world if she ever tried her hand at being a dictator.

A few months later

Yokai Academy

School Festival

After a near disastrous event because of the ANTI-THESIS, a School Festival is just what she needed. Sakura was trying to be in the festive mood as she found three women arguing and Tsukune's group near them. Ageha Kurono, a succubus. Tsurara Shirayuki, a yuki-onna. And Fujiko Sendo, a witch. These were the mothers of Tsukune's 'love interests.' "Please don't cause trouble. I'd hate to have to throw you out over some misunderstandings that teenagers refuse to correct out of pride or embarrassment." Sakura as said teenagers look away.

"You are so adorable." Ageha says trapping Sakura in suffocating hug. Muffled but the woman's overly generous bust, Sakura asked "Ma' am. Please let to go." Ageha does so after one last squeeze. "No reaction at all? It seems your charms are getting rusty." Tsurara snarked with a lollipop in her month as she smirked.

Sakura smiled at the snow woman. "it will take more than her charm to affect one that has she the Queen of the Fae." Fujiko whistled impressed. "Can't beat that. Titania has your charms beat even on her worst days. You must be lucky or unlucky to get to meet her." Fujiko said as Ageha huffed.

"Yes, very lucky or unlucky." A male voice said as an aristocratic vampire with silver hair and cold red eyes that bore into your soul slowly walked up to Sakura. "Father?" Moka asked surprised that her father, Issa Shuzen, had took the time visit. "Hello daughter." He said to Moka before returning his focus on Sakura. "What is the Envoy of the Sun Goddess doing at this school? I can feel her mark under all the humanness." He says 'humanness' like it was unsightly.

"You will find our clan gets all sorts of blessings, curses, and favors." Zane said with blade at Issa's back right where his heart should be. "Do not threaten my daughter again." Zane voice was steel as the tension rose. "The Bird of the Hearth, how quint it is to meet you after you 'acquired' a vase from my home by force. It costs my pride more than it did my money to fix the holes you made. Anyone more of your kind around here?" Issa said angry yet calm.

Aqua walks slow deliberate steps as an air of cold fury blows off her leaving a trail of ice footprints behind her. "Yes. His wife and her mother. I believe I don't need to repeat what he already said." Aqua said with her keyblade aimed at his heart from the front. "Lovely, you're married. I can tell when I'm unwanted. We will talk on another day, daughter." He says to Moka and vanishes in a burst of speed. Zane and Aqua put away their weapons.

"Thank you for coming, Father, Mother." Sakura says wrapping them in a hug. This broke the tense atmosphere. "You're her parents?" Tsukune asks sweating buckets. Aqua was like a beautiful woman will a cold fury and Zane was the scariest thing he's every seen or felt. "Yep and wouldn't change it for the world. When she asked us to come by, I didn't expect to hear that my little sparrow has learned the horror that is paperwork." Zane laughs with slight sadism.

"Dear, laughing at her suffering is not what a father should do to their child." Zane slumped as Aqua gave him the look. "You know she giggles when I have to go sleepless nights to deal with the paperwork THEY cause with their overzealous with their praise, my snow fairy." Zane said adding a pet name for his wife to persuade her to understand. "Don't you 'snow fairy' me. She's not yet an adult and on top of that, even I find most of their antics amusing." Aqua kisses Zane on the cheek before linking arms with him and leading him away. "We will be enjoying the stalls. Be safe." Aqua says as they leave around the corner.

"He's whipped." Tsukune said but Sakura corrects. "Not whipped, just respects and loves her too much to argue with her sometimes. She's also the one that stops him from doing crazier ideas. 'Let me show you this world of molten rock and metal that is so hot water doesn't exist' or 'I'm going to make a bomb that makes a smell so bad kills even the strongest Malboro Menace'. Things like that." Sakura's impressions of Zane were spot on.

"How did he survive a world like that?" Mizore asked shivering. As a snow woman, fire was not pleasant. "He sometimes forgets not everyone is about to go swimming in lava hot as the core of a white star." Sakura said. As the teens stare and the adults shake their head at Zane's moments of not thinking things through. "I'd say he's lucky to have someone to cool him off." Tsurara said amused.

With Zane and Aqua

They were walking around when a teenage girl, that looked like Tsukune, ran into them. Zane caught the package she was carrying before it fell. "Help miss. Are you by chance related to a Tsukune Aono?" Zane asks as Aqua helps her up. "That's my cousin. My name is Kyōko Aono." She says that sighs when she sees that the package was safe.

Zane looked at it and scowled "Why are you carrying a cursed object in a package labeled for Tsukune?" Zane said opening it. Inside the package was an ornate gold mirror with a pair of wings on the top of it. Lilith's Mirror, a vessel of the Tsukumogami Lilith. It could reveal a monster's true form with out cost but what really did was for a small price of a soul it could grant any wish in some form. As you could imagine, it changed hands over the years with a lot of owners dying via a wish.

"A cursed mirror? Magic isn't real." Kyōko said thinking it was a trick. She changed her mind when a pixie came from the mirror. She was no bigger than 6 inches tall and had green hair, gossamer dragonfly wings, and wore a blue dress. "Hello. I am Lilith I can grant any desire you have." Lilith's voice was sweet as honey. "That's a pixie!" Kyōko stammered. "Magic is real as this is a school for monsters to survive the human world by learning to blend in." Zane said.

"then how did Tsukune enroll here?" She asked worried and confused. "The Headmaster invited him personally. He admitted that to my Daughter when she questioned him. Don't tell anyone about what you learned, and you will be fine." Zane explained then glared that the smiling 'pixie'. "I know what you are and what the cost is." Lilith snarled as her face contorted into an ugly vintage. Zane continued "You can reveal the true nature of things, right?"

Lilith's face returned to the normal smiling one. "Of course! That is easy as breathing. What do you what me to reveal?" Lilith boasted. Zane showed her the lantern he carried. Lilith floated around it. "This is amazing! The craftsmanship is beyond anything I've ever encountered! Face the mirror at it and it's truth will be revealed." Lilith said.

Zane set it down did so. The mirror glowed and the lantern illuminated. Hovering over the lantern was an ethereal young woman. She had flowing golden hair and a face that felt both inhumanly beautiful yet relatable. Her clothes were plain but made of the finest silk. In her hands was flower. "I have waited for you to bridge the gap. Come and hear my name." he appeached her and she whispers her name. It was not a word that was describable as a language. It was more of a multidimensional feeling.

"You may refer to me as Elpis. For it is the goddess of hope that my form is based off." She says to the others, smiling kindly. "Use me when the time is right." She fades away as the lantern sits there innocently. "what is her name?" Kyōko asked but Zane shook his head. "To invoke her name is to activate her power. Just call her Elpis, as she said." Zane said returning the lantern to he kept it. "What is that? It only worked because she wanted to reveal herself. She's more powerful than me!" Lilith said shivering. The sheer amount of power Elpis had was mind blowing to her.

"Now. Who is the one who sent you?" Zane asked Kyōko. "She had braided hair and talked with an old accent." She said. Zane said words in different languages. "That's the one!" She says when he did Greek. "I see. Move the left please." Confused she does want he says as Zane grabs snakes that tried to bite her.

"I will not be stopped. This school will be destroyed for destruction is the purest form of art!" A medusa monster said from the shadows. This was the perpetrator. Hitomi Ishigami, former art teacher at the school who got fired after they found living statues of missing female students. "I don't think you planned for me." Zane said pulling her to him and slamming his foot into her face with a bone crunching impact.

She didn't get up from the ground after that hit. "Talk about being a crazy artist. How did you kick that high?" Kyōko asked "I've only seen cheerleaders kick that high." Aqua laughed at her comment. "Lots of training. Aqua taught me ballet for flexibility training." Zane said as a red hair female member of the PSC carrying a Bo staff demanded "What's going on here? Deshi."

"Someone tried to assassinate a member of the student body and cause enough chaos to destroy the school." Zane said indicating the ex- art teacher, who's face had an imprint of Zane's boot in it. "Oh. I better report this to Sakura. Deshi." Deshiko Deshi, a JiangShi (jumping zombie), said the talked into a com device in her ear.

"Thank you for stopping her. The Headmaster wants to talk to you. Deshi." Deshiko Deshi said as she cuffed the ex-art teacher. "Continue to enjoy the event, I'll be right back." Zane says to Aqua.

Headmaster's Office

Zane, still holding onto Lilirth mirror, sat across from Headmaster Tenmei Mikogami, a Kishin who looked like an exorcist with the hooded clothing he wore, sat behind the desk amused. Next him was Ruby, his assistant, and a normal looking human bus driver. This 'bus driver' was Nurari, a Nurarihyon (Supreme Commander of All Monsters), and was just as amused as the Headmaster. "I'm impress how swiftly you dealt with her without killing her." The headmaster said with a chuckle. "Would you be willing hand over Lilith's mirror. I'm willing offer something in return."

"Show me what you're willing to trade." Zane says. Ruby sets a box on the desk. The Headmaster opens it to reveal a old looking key sitting on velvet. "This is a key to a blacksmith workshop. Just want to go there and act like you are unlocking a door." Nurari said taking a drag on the cigar. "And not just any forge. It was owned but a legendary demon blacksmith. She was said to be as skilled as the elder cyclopes. Normally I'm say that it's too hot for a human, but the heat would be pleasant for you."

"Any nasty surprises left behind?" Zane asked as Lilith annoyed sat being ignored. "This is the only key she made because she had no need for a key. She disappeared year ago but left this key for me to pass on to someone that met her conditions. One, they must be a blacksmith. Two, they must be Greek. And Three, they but be able to survive the sun level heat of the forge when it is in use. I'd say to you check off all the boxes. Do we have a deal?" The Headmaster says offering a hand.

Zane shakes the hand, setting the mirror on the desk and took the key, box and all. "You don't mind Sakura staying for a few more years, do you? From her grades she's one of your best students and I've got some dangerous things to track down." Zane says. The Headmaster smiles "Not a problem. She had fix problem that I had difficulty untangling without things going badly." Zane translated this as 'if I stepped in, some or all of my schemes would fall apart.'

"Have a nice day, Headmaster." Zane said leaving.

A few weeks later

Unknown world (Based on the Brother Bear movies)

Mountain peck aka 'Where the Lights touch the Earth'

Zane listened to the many voices of the spirits who made up the aroura in the sky. They were wary of him. (He looked like a lynx spirit in this world) It was annoying he couldn't be seen by just anyone in this world but that was the price to pay to hunt down the on that knew what he was looking for. It was not a physical relic but a verbal one. Many secrets of the people of the icy north were like that.

"I am looking for a shaman who can hear the voices of even the quietest of spirits. Will you tell me where I can find her?" He requested. The great spirits debated among themselves before vanishing, leaving an annoyed Zane to sit alone on the peak as snow fell on it. "You want to make me leave? Well I'll just sit here until you answer me." He lays his head on his front paws and waits. At some point sleep took him as the snow slowly covered his body.

A month later

"Hello there." An elder voice says waking Zane from his month-long nap. A darker skinned human woman with white hair, two red bars on the bridge of her nose and wearing fur and hide clothing and carried a staff. "You look like a spirit, but something tells me that you are far from home." She says leaning on her walking staff. Zane shakes off the snow then glares at the sky. "the great spirits are being stubborn as the mountain is tall. Just one shaman, is that too much to ask for?" Zane grumbled.

The old woman laughed "perhaps I can help. I am Tanana, shaman of my tribe." Zane grinned then yelled at the invisible spirits watching. "See! I win. I waited and got help without you!" He pauses then angrily swipes at the snow. "That was your plan all along, wasn't it! Just let me sit here in the cold and wind while you laugh at me." Zane huffs as Tanana watches him.

"The great spirits can be difficult to understand but they give answers in the end." Tanana said. "Could you tell me what the spirit of this rock is saying? It's been driving me to wits end." Zane says setting a green river rock that shined with an inner light. She looks it over, putting it to her ear. "oh my. I'm not sure I should just tell you this yet." She says.

"What must I do to learn what you heard from that whispering river rock?" Zane says. Tanana thinks about it. "That is someone is someone in a trio of brothers in my tribe that could use some the secrets you must know. When the youngest of the three have become a man, I will tell you what secrets I heard." She said placing the river rock in a bag she carried.

"How am I to guide them if they cannot see or hear me? If you hadn't noticed only animals and the spiritually aware can see spirits." Zane grumbled. "You'll find a way." She said with a knowing twinkle in her eyes.

A week later

Her tribe's location

Zane had watched the brothers for the past week and decided that this was not going to be easy. The eldest brother Sitka, a darker skinned human black hair in a ponytail and had the animal totem 'The Eagle of Guidance'. He had a good head on his shoulders. Looking out for his brothers and making the right choices. Zane swore that Sitka noticed him to some degree.

The middle brother, Denahi, was immature, protective, and teasing. His totem was 'The Wolf of Wisdom' even if he was far from wise right now. Goes to show that the animal totem sometimes needed to be grown into. The youngest brother, Kenai, was brash, implosive, impatient, and getting to trouble quite easily. He hadn't gotten his totem yet. Just then, Kenai ran by with squirrel running after him. Seems that Denahi stuffed nuts in his pockets without him knowing.

"Why are they making my task so hard?" Zane said out loud with only Sitka in hearing range. "That's how they are." Sitka answered as Zane stared. "How long have you been seeing and hearing me?" Zane asked hopping he didn't hear some of thing he said about them. "The whole time. You have a lot of things to say about what goes on around here. What bring a knower of secrets to a tribe as small as ours?" Sitka said softly so he was only heard by Zane.

The tribe was only two hundred strong at most. It wasn't the biggest tribe, but it was stable. "Your shaman is stringy. All I wanted was a simple answer but no! I had to help her first. At this rate, I never get it. Those brother of yours are acting like immature puppies. You and the shaman are the only humans that can interact with me."

"They will come around. Give it time. I learned, so can they." Sitka said getting ready to go hunting. "Before you ask, I only sort of see you. You're a shadow just out of sight no matter where I look. But I can hear you as clear as the sound of the pray I hunt makes." Zane sat there taking it in. He waited a week to talk to Zane. All those times ranted and raged that the stupid thing the young brother did, and all he did was act like I wasn't there! Kudos to him for pulling the wools over Zane's eyes.

A few months later

A river near the tribe

Zane watch with sad eyes as Kenai lead a hunt for a bear who destroyed a basket of fish that he didn't hide good enough in his rush to get his totem. He had gotten 'The Bear of Love'. The foolish hunt came to a climax when Sitka destroyed a chucking ice sending him and the angry bear to the river below. Zane approached Sitka to see if he was dead.

"You don't have long to live. As a spirit, I am limited in what I can do." Zane said shifting ice so the brother could find him. "So that's what you look like. You remind me of the warm fire after a long day." Sitka said as he died. Kenai and Denahi ran up to his corpse calling his name. "He will not wake. Not that you can hear me. Kenai, you need to stop making such rash actions. Rest assured Tanana will be informed the full truth of the events that lead to this ill-fated death." Zane said leaving them to carry the body home.

A few days later

River near the Tribe

The funeral was a somber affair. Zane had learned the secrets of herbs to heal, harm, and many other uses from Tanana. She knew at least 1,001 ways to kill you without directly causing harm, not her 'sweet old lady' personality would betray that. Kenai had just left to avenge Sitka. Zane saw where this was going, and he could to nothing. The reason he was a spirit here because of a barrier that protected this world from the heartless. To bypass it he had to astral project his soul. When he arrived, he heard that damned river rock whispering something he couldn't hear. He ignored it for a week before picking the thing up.

He only came to this would because Yen Cid's spell told him something here was important for him to hear. Zane had to admit that he learned a lot of skills and secrets that were never written down. That river rock better be important.

He stared as a storm rolled in. He would wait for Kenai's return, dead or alive.

Hours later

River near the Tribe

The aurora blazed to life to bright Zane could see the spirits that made up it from here. Looks like a punishment/lesson was being given to the foolish hunter. "He's alive but he will be changed in some way. That is how the great spirits work." Tanana said sitting next to him on the riverbank. "He's just like me all those year ago. So much anger and grief. How will his story end?" Zane said as she looked at him in a new light. "So that's why you are so judgmental. He reminds you of yourself. Did revenge cause you to take this form or was it something else?" She asked. "I did not die trying to avenge my master. Close but I recovered and moved past that eventual. I am not dead. Call it a vision quest if you want. My body rests while my spirit searches for answers." Zane said as the aurora vanishes, and the storm brings a downpour.

"I see. You felt too alive to be one of the great spirits. By the way, the river rock was a prank by Coyote, the trickster spirit." She said as Zane stiffened. In a low growl, Zane said "when I get my paws that flea bag, I will skin him and turn it into a coat." Tanana amused asked "What about me? I keep the truth from you from the start?" Zane scuffed "You did it for the good of the tribe, not for just a prank. Besides you taught me all those things when you didn't need to. So, you are spared my wrath."

"How perceptive of you. You embody the spirit of the lynx quite well with clairvoyance as sharp as that." Tanana said kindly.

That next morning

A river some distance from the Tribe

Kenai washed down river looking like a light brown grizzly bear. Tanana, with some help, pulled him to the swallows. "They love irony. I leave explaining this mess to you. I'll keep an eye out as he learns his lesson. I have a Coyote to skin." Zane says as he pads away amused and grinning. That trickster's scent was on the wind and Zane was not going to let it grow cold.

Not too long later

On the trail

Zane was scoping out the true trail as a pair of moose with Canadian accents tried to act like trees. "Do you think he can still see us, Rutt?" One asked the other. "Judging by the annoyed glare, yes, yes he can. What's plan b, Tuke?" the second one said to the first. Tuke said to Zane "Don't eat us, ghost cat! We taste like bark. Tough and crunchy without any flavor!" Zane just scoffed silently and bounded away, finding the true trail. "See, I told you it'd work." Tuke says as they go back to what they were doing.

A few days later

In the northern wilderness

Zane was quite smug with the hide he was carrying. That trickster was alive and in pain, but he'd grow a new one in time. He should be happy Zane only took his hide and not his life. He was surprised to run in to Kenai and a grizzly bear cub. "Look who finally is showing some responsibility. I only took you going for a swim downstream the hard way." Zane snarked.

The bear cub asked "You know Zane, Kenai? Because my mother and I pointed to where the lights are because he had this glowing rock." Kenai shivered lightly "Koda, step away from him. He's dangerous." Kenai knew that feeling this spirit made him feel. Unseen eyes that watched him and his brothers over months. The cub, Koda, just look at him like he was living under a rock. "Of course, he's dangerous. He's a spirit. Lynx spirits are particularly dangerous because they know all sorts of secrets." He stage-whispers to Kenai "But if you offer them something that interests them then they might share a few tidbits."

Zane rolled his eyes. Koda knew Zane could hear him but he was still young. "Hello again Koda." Zane says as Koda sniffs the rolled-up hide. "What's this? It smells like dog but has a weird scent to it." Koda says. Zane grinned "That is the hide I skinned off Coyote the Trickster after he made me waste half a year on river rock he messed with." Zane's answer was chilling but Koda was impressed. "You tracked down the Trickster and skinned him? That's amazing! What hunting secrets did you use?" Koda questions were left unanswered much to his disappointment.

"You are heading to the Salmon Run, right?" Zane asked causing Koda to answer 'yes' in a roundabout way. "I'll meet you there." Zane says vanishing into the underbrush.

A few days later

Somewhere in the wilderness

Zane watched as Denahi hunted for Kenai's 'killer'. He had no idea that the bear he was tracking was Kenai. Sitka in the form of an eagle spirit landed in a tree near him. "I hope that you made the right choice, Sitka." Zane said as the spirit shifted to the form he had when he was alive. "I trust that things will work out. What about you? You don't need to watch them yet here you are doing just that." Sitka said. He was right Zane didn't need to help since that rock was just a prank. "I want to see how this chapter of his story ends." Zane says as Denahi looks their way but only seeing an eagle perched on a branch and a Lynx giving him n annoyed stare. He continues his hunt for the bear, to get away before the lynx decided he was prey worth hunting.

"You have become entangled with this story as they have with yours. Tanana will be telling the story of the time Coyote tricked a Lynx but paid the price in the end." Sitka said. Zane laughed "That story is not yet finished for the deal remains unfinished." Zane said. "If that's what you wish then who am I to stop you?" Sitka said turning into an eagle and flying away. "Why didn't you eat him?" an elderly male squirrel yells from a tree. "He's going to get himself killed then more hunters will follow his footsteps. I swear you spirits always complicate things for us normal critters."

"Would you prefer a corpse attracting scavengers, who wouldn't mind a trough and gamey morsel like you?" Zane shot back. The squirrel froze then said "I see your wise logic, spirit. Don't mind me, I'm too old for your shenanigans. Just last spring, this strange wild dog moved around where I hid my nuts over the winter. Just once I'd like to see that spirit get what's coming to him." The squirrel said resigned.

"I've got a tale for you. It's not finished yet, but you will enjoy what's currently there." Zane and told the tale of the Trickster and the Lynx. When Zane finished, the squirrel laughed so hard he fell out of the tree and on to Zane's head. "You made my day. Anything I can do to help you?" The squirrel said as the crawled back up the tree. "Can you point me to the Salmon Run? I don't know the way there from this part of the wilderness." Zane asked.

"The Salmon Run? Go west until you reach a big stream then go up it. You can't miss the large number of grizzlies hanging around that place. Real big, hairy, noisy, and smelly, those beasts. They are always rubbing on trees shaking them so bad it's like one of those earthquakes my cousin down south talked about once. Come visit when that tale is finished." The squirrel says going into the tree.

A week and a day later

The Salmon Run

It had taken a day to find the stream at the relaxed pace Zane took. It wasn't a 'big stream'. It was a wide river with rapids, whirlpools, rocks both jagged and smooth, and thousands of salmon going up stream. Zane guessed that the squirrel had not seen the 'stream' for quite a few years. He followed it's twists and turns for a week of non-stop traveling.

He heard and smelled the bears before he saw them. The Salmon Run was a calm 'lake' that the Salmon pass through to reach the spawning grounds upriver. You'd think that the bear would have killed off the fish, but the salmon were quite swift as over half the fish got past the bears to continue their journey. Only the strongest, swiftest, and smartest salmon lived to spawn. Zane was pretty sure they were Sockeye Salmon.

"What's a spirit doing here? You're not here because of the tree I moved, I hope." A giant grizzly with dark fur and a bulky body said before laughing boomingly. "My name is Tug. I know why you are here. You lynx spirits try to be sneaky, but I notice your kind spying on us as we tell tales. Let me be the first to invite you to join the festivities this year." Tug lead Zane to the 'limelight' and declared "Listen up guys!" Tug said in a voice that was loud enough to get all the bears to look his way, but not scare away the fish. "This year a spirit will be joining us. Give a warm welcome to him!" Zane sighing says "My name is Zane. It's nice for you to welcome me."

The bears say their greetings and try their best to make him feel welcome. Kenai and Koda surface near him. "hey Zane! You made it just in time. Tonight, is when we tell what happened this year and boy do, I have a story to tell." Koda says as Kenai had a nice sized salmon wriggling in his jaws.

Later that evening

"Normally I'd start as the leader of this event, but we've got a guest, who I feel has some interesting tales to tell." Tug said nudging Zane. "So, Zane, anything interesting happen to you this year?" He asked Zane. "You know the legendary trickster Coyote?" the bears around him nod and grumble about the trouble he caused. "Well he tricked me, but I got him back." Zane told the what happened but left out the details about task Tanana gave him. He ended it but explaining what he did to the trickster.

"It's about time he got his dues. Humans can be troublesome, but those Shamans are crafty. Care to share some of your wisdom how to get around their smelly plants?" Tug asks. Zane laughed "Leave them alone and they won't throw those 'smelly plants' at you." Tugs just laughs as Zane throws the headless salmon to the next speaker. The stories varied from happy, to sad, to just normal.

A few days later

Near the mountain peak aka 'Where the Lights touch the Earth'

Koda was cornered by Denahi, when Kenai grabbed the spear that his brother and wrapped the bear totem necklace to. Zane watched as the lights appeared and a patch of snow vanished to show grass and flowers. Sitka returns Kenai to human form and appears before his brothers. "You have down well, Kenai." Zane says entering the grassy area.

"Who are you?" Denahi asked confused. "I am the source of those unseen eyes that you felt watching you for months. I am how Tanana knew about every bit of trouble you caused even if she wasn't there. And finally, I am the one you made sure you found Sitka's body that day." Zane said flatly as the two-living brother flitch back at each statement. Koda was confused but listened. He knew Zane was telling the truth. Sitka coughed lightly into his fist. "What he means is that Tanana asked him to watch us because she was worried. Zane's just annoyed it took you knuckleheads this long to learn your lessons." Sitka says.

Koda butts in "You were the ones Zane was tasked to watch? How are humans understanding us?" Koda gestures to the spirits and himself. "In this space there is no language barriers." The spirit of Koda's mother says as she appears from the light. "In light of your actions, Zane. This is yours." A small bundle appears at Zane's paws. He opens it to reveal a totem necklace. "The Lynx of Clairvoyance. It's not a surprised but why are you giving it to me?" Zane asked skillfully getting it around his neck. "You are odd, most Lynx spirits are, but you are the oddest one yet. You came with a request for someone who listens. So, you were tested." Sitka explained. He had been informed by the other spirits upon his death and tasked to watch Zane.

"After I died, I was surprised to hear that the spirits were testing you. I knew you were a nice being. When you were told the truth, you did not attack her. This showed that you can see past the surface to grasp the truth." Koda's mother said. Kenai, who had put his totem around his neck before saying. "Sitka, can you turn me back into a bear? Koda needs someone to look after him."

Denahi wanted to argue with his brother but he understood his point. Kenai wasn't gone for good, so They'd still be able to see each other from time to time. Sitka was impressed and complied with his request. "I know you will live great lives." Sitka says as the brother enjoy their short time together. Koda and his mother did the same.

A few weeks later

At the Tribe's wall of handprints

Tanana helped Kenai and Zane add their pawprints to the wall. Zane was surprised he was asked to add his, but she said he was a part of the tribe in her and the brothers' eyes. The tribesmen only saw a second pawprint appear from thin air. Tanana whispered into Zane's ear. "The stone said that you'd help the tribe. Looks like the stone was right." Zane understood what the trickster had done. He made Zane help humans Coyote found interesting along with pulling off an amusing prank.

He had a squirrel to visit.

A month later

A fairy tale world (Based on the Shrek movies) (Currently before first movie)

The Swamp

Zane was following the signal of a cache stashed somewhere around here before it was a swamp. He noticed broken sign on the ground. Dusting it off, if his hands was a 'Keep Out!' sign. He followed the path and found a hut and more signs. He walked up to the hut and politely knocked on the door.

"What do you want!" A green skinned funnel shape eared ogre, wearing brown and white tunic, pants, and shoes, demanded as he answered the door. He looked at Zane's armored form and the dowsing device, a floating jewel on a cord, he was carrying. "If you are here to kill me, You're out of luck." The ogre said annoyed. "No, I'm just looking for something around here from before it was a swamp." Zane explained as the jewel pointed to the west. The ogre stared then asked. "If I help find it will you leave my swamp?" Zane nodded. "Gladly." They exchanged names. The ogre was named Shrek.

The jewel led them to a patch of ground on the edge of the swamp. Shrek watched as Zane dug out a long box. Zane opened it and inspected spear that lay inside. It had a double-edged head and shaft of a pure white metal and had a ripple look to it. It looked to be six to seven feet long and had good balance. "What is that?" Shrek said. "It like all other weapons of this metal, it is called a Nail 'weapon'. When a Nail weapon is refined this much it's called the Pure Nail." He puts the Pure Nail (spear) away. "Thank for allowing me to collect this." Zane says. Shrek just shrugs. "At least you were polite. Now leave." Zane does so.

A few days later

World of Nen

Kukuroo Mountain

Zane walked up to the Testing Gate that was one of the things that stopped just anyone from entering the Zoldyck Family estate. "Patch me in." He says to the almost bald middle-aged man who was the 'guard'. Zebro wear a gray suit and a dark blue guard hat. "Do I know you?" He asked. Zane had the Pure Nail (spear) resting on his shoulder as he said, "I'm the one who stole from the family and lived to tell the tale." Zebro remembered him now. "Zane Laskaris. I remember you. Wait here." He enters the guard house and called the Butlers' HQ. "Yes, he's standing outside right now." Zebro was cut off as Zane took the phone.

"Gotoh I have business with Nanika." Zane said into the phone as the head butler, who could shoot coins like machine gun, calmly said on his end of the line, "How do I know this is the real Zane?" Zane snorted. "It doesn't matter. I'm only giving you fair warning that I am coming in whether you like it or not." Zane hangs up the phone and walks to the testing gate. Seven doors that weighed a total of 256 tons all together. Zane just pushed them open with easy and entered the estate.

Less than ten minutes later

Zoldyck Family estate grounds

The Zoldyck family owned the whole mountain and the surrounding land. Before him was a dark-skinned teenage girl with black hair styled like a braided palm tree, wearing a black suit and carrying a rod as her weapon. "You will go no farther." She, Canary was her name, said, drawing a line in the dirt. Her expression was blank. They trained her well. Zane took the stance Cu drilled into his head for spear wielding. "Step aside. I respect the dedication, but you are in my way." Zane offered. She didn't move so Zane 'MOVED'. One moment he was standing in front of her, then he was behind her as she fell to the ground defeated. "Train hard." Zane said as he continued down the path.

Zoldyck Family estate

Main Household

"That's impossible! How did he get that far so soon?" The pudgy dark-haired older brother of Killua, Milluki, said as he and the family watched Zane approach the main household at a fast pace. Milluki had been at his computer eating chips when the security cameras picked up Zane. (Only because Zane let them detect him.) Maha (his Great-Great Grandfather), Zeno (His Grandfather), Silva (his father), Kikyo (His mother), Illumi (his older brother), and Killua himself were watching with him with varying reactions.

Zeno and Silva were blank faced but interested in see how this would play out. Kikyo was griping her fan angerly remembering how soundly Zane humiliated the family. Illumi looked ready to murder Zane with his glare alone. Killua was enjoying the show as Zane defeated any butler that tried to stop his advance. Maha was watching intently. Maha was over 120 years old and looked like a short bald man. "Killua, who trained him?" Mala asked. Zane's presence of power reminded him of Netero.

Killua thought about it. "He mentioned a Master Eraqus, some guy called The Hound and one last name. He said it with a lot of hate. How did he say it? Oh, right! Xehanort." Zane who was not in hearing range froze then shattered a rock to calm down before continuing his pace. "I guess he wasn't kidding." Killua said amused.

Arching a brow, Silva asked "About what?" Killua took out a notebook of information He collected about Zane. "According to him, there this golden arrow that will do one of two things. After you are pierced by it, you die, or gain a STAND. It's not Nen. His stand is this trio of cloud heads called Last Train Home. They let him detect things in a sphere with a radius of 900 meter at max. Given that we are currently just under that number, his hearing everything we say. Hi Zane!" Killua waves at the end and Zane gives a wave back.

"That is an annoyingly useful ability." Silva said. As an assassin like most of the family stealth is key. Even Silva, a muscular man with a mane of long platinum blonde hair who was normally hard to miss, could blend in like he wasn't even there. "That does clear up some questions I've had." Zeno, an old man with white hair and a thin mustache that looked like dragon whiskers. "He is destroying them. Where is their pride as Butlers of the Zoldyck family?" Kikyo demanded, she looked like a high-class lady but her sneer, bandaged up face and the vizor that hid her eyes ruined that.

"Looks like Gotoh is confronting him finally. He's 500 meters from the main household and Zane's defeated almost all the butlers we got." Milluki pointed out. Illumi just glared harder silently.

Back with Zane

Gotoh had slicked back black hair thin rimmed glasses and wear the stranded suit all butlers of the Zoldyck Family. "You have come far but I must stop your advance." Gotoh said with handfuls of heavy coins. Zane switched weapons, bringing out Apólyto Toícho. "I've been meaning to try out this new weapon and you aren't willing to stand down. So, let's begin." Zane says as Gotoh fires the coins. Zane blocked every shot and the coins started to pile at his feet as the energy giving them that speed and power was absorbed. After a minute of firing coins, Gotoh stopped. "They drain energy, making the coins useless against it." Gotoh commented. Zane looked at the pile of coins at his feet. It was a sizable one. Gotoh looked back at him looking ready for close combat when a pair of footsteps stopped them.

A dark-haired teen maybe young adult woman with pale skin and A very tall bulky looking elderly woman with two pigtail styled hair wearing a monocle entered the clearing. They were servants of the Zoldyck family, but the elderly lady's look caused Gotoh stands down without words. "Amane, Tsubone, what bring you two here?" Zane says calmly. Tsubone, the elderly lady, smiled. "Master Silva order us to escort you to the main household before you leave the family undefended." Zane switched back to the Pure Nail (spear) just to be safe as he followed them.

"You don't mind if I arm myself? Some of the family dislike me quite a bit." Zane said and Tsubone nodded. "I see you found a spear that can handle the stress you put on it. You destroyed the ones you stole from the butlers the last time you were here." She comments. "It took some time to find the right one, but this is a keeper. You can imagine the number of weapons I go through until I find one that survives more than one battle." Zane said lightly.

"why is it that you have come today?" Amane asked. "Nanika is dead set on granting me a wish. Killua has told me so. Now seemed to be the best time to cash that rain check. My daughter is keeping the peace at a school, my wife was called to deal with a massive infestation and I just finished up a long-term mission. On the way, I picked up this beauty and knew you guys would let me break it in." Zane explained.

"I see. I am glad that you didn't kill the one that tried to stop you. They will use that defeat to get better." Tsubone says.

Ten minutes later

Zoldyck main household

Alluka's new room

Killua lead Zane to Alluka's new room, her pervious one was more of a jail cell. There were plush dolls scattered about and a four-poster bed with silk sheets. A merely teen girl with black hair wearing an outfit like a shrine maiden smiled and hugged them saying "Big Brother! You brought Brother Zane!" Alluka insisted on that and Killua found amusing. "will you let Nanika grant you a wish?" She asked Zane annoyed. "She feels so bad that you took so long to show up."

KIllua was laughing silently as Zane was put on the spot. "I'm ready." Zane said. Alluka's voice changed telling them that Nanika was in control. "Give me what you give your subjects." Was Nanika's first request. "Subjects?" KIllua said to himself as Zane played music on Margert. He'd ask Zane later. A few minutes later, Nanika asked "Give me a friend." Was her next request.

Zane was unsure of how to answer this request, when help arrived in the form of a set of small pots. There were five of them. There was one green, one yellow, one orange, one blue, and one red. They all had lids and a diamond pattern on them. But there was something stood out about them, they had a heartless emblem on them. "Killua, where did those pots come from?" Zane asked. "I bought them from a market. The merchant didn't know who made them or how to open them." Killua said as Zane walked up to the pots. "You heartless come out now." He commanded and the lids lift to show five cat-like heartless known as popcats. They were quivering in fear. Zane looked at them and said, "I will let you live if you be her friend, got it?" The Popcats nod then go back into hiding. "Don't mind them. Popcats are pot dwelling heartless that just want to hide from just about everything. They are like a cat, goes where it wants to and stay only if it wants to." Zane explained and Nanika smiled at her new 'friends/pets'.

Her third request was "Show me the one you share a body with." Killua and the ones watching via cameras were shocked. "Very well." Zane said shifted into Daemon (mantle mode). "I am Daemon the Great Demon Lord of Wrath. It is a pleasure to finally greet you and Killua." Daemon said amused. Killua stared at Daemon. Nanika had scary powers that were akin to wish granting with a price, but Daemon was scary in a direct way. Zane shifted back to human form as Nanika made her full appearance. Alluka's face shifted to having pitch black holes for her eyes and mouth.

"I wish for that Alluka was aware of what happens when Nanika was in control." Zane said and Nanika was shocked as she granted the wish. Killua laughed, Zane used the wish not for himself but the wish granter. Alluka was back in control and started shaking Zane "Why did you waste that wish? It was for not me." She said touched at his compassion. "It doesn't seem right for you to miss out of half your life. Besides I prefer granting my own wishes. It's more fun that way." She was crying tears of joy as she hugged him tightly.

"Killua told me you enjoy ice cream. The butlers are testing it for poison before you get it, but you will love my 'Taste of Home' ice cream, I sell it." Zane tells her as she perks up. "you sell Ice Cream. That's ironic given you use fire a lot." Killua jokes.

Later that day

Family meeting room

Zane was 'asked' to meet with some members of the Zoldyck family. Zeno, Silva, and Maha sat across from him. "Why should we keep those 'popcats' in the house?" Silva asked getting right to the point. "They are harmless unless provoked. After the rampage I did in that homeland passive heartless like them will not dare harm anyone without reason. Most heartless are too leery of the 'Dark Continent' to ever step foot here. Then again Cats play by their own rules." Zane rambled.

"I see. The other thing we'd like to know is twofold. Who are your subjects and where do you rule?" Silva asked again. "Heartless, and you will never find the kingdom." Zane said. Maha asked a question next. "I've researched you and find that there are blanks. You are the boogieman of the underworld and the fastest person to get triple star hunter status in a long time. What drives you to steal of us?" He was referring to the heist he pulled off the last time he was here.

"To reclaim what was stolen. It was my family's possession in first place before the romans invaded and ransacked the place. This was many years ago and I jumped at the chance to get it back. Still need to find over half of the things that were stolen." Zane said remembering the 'list' of things that were stolen. There where countless things to find on it. "That is a fitting mindset for a Hunter." He said.

Zeno had a question that Zane knew would come from someone of perceptive as him. "There are worlds outside of the 'Dark Continent', right?" He answered his own question. "It'd make sense. I read the notes Killua made and there are things and all point to this fact. What I want to know is what are the chances more like you will come here? Outworlders who stir things up by just being there."

"not high but possible. This world scares away all but those willing risk it." Zane says vaguely. It was hard to describe but this world had an aura of danger that scared away a lot of things.

Zane got a call, so he said, "One moment. Hello?" They watched as his expression went form interested, to pride, then annoyed, and finally resignation. "Thank you, general Lilith. I will deal with that asap." Zane hung up. "Trouble?" Zeno asked. "Just good, better, and bad news. Good and better news is that the Lord of gluttony was located and is willing to help me. That makes three of six other demon lords who willing to aid me in some form. Pride and Greed disagreed so they were terminated." They got his meaning.

"What of Sloth?" Silva asked. Breathing through his nose, Zane explained. "That's the bad news. A trio of boneheads I have under my command got the bright idea to search for the Sloth Lord without permission. They are only good for demolition jobs or fighting. They are currently MIA and I decided to look for them myself. I will need to depart at once before they destroy a city or something." Zane gets up and heads out.

A few days later

The Digiworld (The Data Squad one. There are more than one Digiworlds)

Zane as Daemon (mantle mode) searching the forest for any sign of those boneheads. He noticed a clearing with a Cherrymon, a massive tree-like Ultimate level Digimon with multiple arms, a green mustache, and carried a cane. Under his roots were a bunch of Nyokimon, black seed pod looking fresh level Digimon who looked adorable. "What do you want, demon lord?" Cherrymon asked shielding the Nyokimon with his roots.

"I am looking for a trio of SkullSatamon. They are missing and I fear they blundered into trouble again." Zane asked. Cherrymon was silent as he rubbed where his chin would be. "Where they morons looking for a 'lazy bear with an alarm clock'?" He asked. Zane facepalmed "That would be them. Where did they go?" Zane said exasperated.

"I sent them to the Infinite Ice Ridge. Lord Merukimon can deal with them. I have no idea what they were describing." Cherrymon said. "They were talking about my 'colleague'." Zane explained and Cherrymon froze with fear. "let's hope those bumbling boneheads fail to find him. You Demon Lords are trouble." Cherrymon said. "Too true. Comes with the title. If only King Drasil would get off my back. I've defeated all the royal knights at least once over the years, yet they keep barging into my territory yelling that King Drasil demanded my deletion and then attacks me unprovoked." Zane grumbles.

"Did you raise an army or something?" Cherrymon asked. "Yes, but to keep the peace among the 'evil' Digimon." Zane made air quotes. "Finally! Those delinquents need someone to keep an eye on them. King Drasil may 'rule' the digiworld but he can't be everywhere, nor can the royal knights." Cherrymon said with a snort.

Not too much later

Infinite Ice Ridge

"Halt!" A gotsumon demanded as Zane had entered the 'palace'. "I am looking for a trio of SkullSatamon. They were told Merukimon might know what they were searching for." Zane said calmly to the servant of Merukimon. "You know those boneheads? I have no idea what they were rambling on about but Merukimon dealt with them." Gotsumon said then froze as Zane glared. "Take me to him." Gotsumon nodded at the command and walked deeper.

A few minutes later

Merukimon's throne room

Sitting on the throne carved from ice was Merukimon, a 20-foot-tall mega level God Man Digimon. He had a long mane of green hair and wore furs and his are armor with the upper part of his face covered by a tiger half mask and a bone jaw hanging from it. A mirror necklace rested on his chest. At his right was a tan skinned human with dark blue hair and face paint wearing a rough tribal outfit. The human had a boomerang bigger than he was resting on his back. A rookie level owl ninja looking Digimon stood next to the human, this was Falcomon.

"Gotsumon why did you bring the Great Demon Lord of Wrath here?" Merukimon commanded. Throwing himself to the ground, Gotsumon confessed. "Lord Merukimon, Lord Daemon is looking for the troublesome boneheads you dealt with. He wishes to know where they are currently." Merukimon created a window showing the SkullSatamon flying over a human city.

"You let them loose on that human city?" Zane cried. "Those boneheads will trash the place and King Drasil will send another royal knight to try and delete me again. They are annoying to send packing." Felcomon was annoyed "Then don't send them to bother Lord Merukimon!"

"I didn't send them. They were told to demo house so a better could be built. A week later I get told they are hunting for Belphemon to impress me. The only reason I keep them around is, so they don't get themselves deleted." Zane said mournfully. They were taken aback at his kindness. "Keenan, do not look so happy that the human city may be destroyed." Merukimon told the human child. "They killed Frigimon. Humans deserve to be destroyed." Keenan said coldly. Zane was not going try to fix that issue right now.

"Can you open a gate to that city?" Zane asked as the boneheaded trio were fooled into following a human where a jacket that said 'DATS' and a Sunflowmon, a plant-like champion level Digimon that looked like a sunflower with a face, a tail and 'leaf' wings. "Easily done." Merukimon said using a knife to cut open a digigate. "Thank you for the assistance." Zane said entering the gate.

Human world (Data Squad earth)

DATS (Digimon Data Squad) HQ

Command Center

The alarms wailed as the humans at the monitors worked fast to pinpoint where the Digimon was emerging. "What are we dealing with." Barked Commander Richard Sampson, the dark-haired commander of this branch of DATS. "At least mega level." Megumi, the blonde hair female computer operator, said distressed. Miki, the dark-haired female computer operator, was even more distressed because she tracked where the digigate was. "Digigate is right above us!" She said as The field operatives ran in.

First was a red-haired female in her late teens, Yoshino "Yoshi" Fujieda. Next was a no-nonsense type blonde-haired male in his early teen, Thomas H. Norstein. And Lastly was a delinquent looking red haired male in his early teens, Marcus Damon. "What's happening? We were trying to get those boneheads to talk." Marcus demanded. "A wild guess is that their boss is here." Thomas said reading a computer screen. "Sir what do we do?" Yoshi asked Commander Sampson. "You can start by releasing the three stooges." Zane said as he walked in. "It's fighting time!" Marcus yells throwing a punch at Zane. Zane grabbed his arm and threw him judo style into the wall of the hallway behind him. "This is not an enemy you can fight." Kudamon, the white and gold ferret rookie level Digimon that was sitting around the commander's neck, said.

"Finally, someone with the sense to be diplomatic, even if it from out of the Digimon that tried to delete my subjects in the past." Zane said coldly. "I only did it once and that was years ago." Kudamon admitted as the alarms were stopped. "Daemon, the Great Demon Lord of Wrath. High tier Mega level." Thomas listed. "He is way out of our league." Marcus tries to attack from behind but gets the butt of Zane's Pure Nail (Spear) in the gut folding him over. "He's feisty." Zane comments dryly. "Marcus now's not the time for fists of fury!" The Commander ordered as Marcus struggled to stay standing.

"I'm sorry that the boneheads showed up unannounced, but you know of the thickheaded are with their ideas." Zane said. "Yes, we are quite aware." Thomas said making a barbed comment about Marcus. Kamemon, a rookie level biped turtle, walked in carrying a tray of fresh tea. "Tea?" He says to Zane. "Thank you. This is good." Zane says sipping it. "How are drinking tea without showing your face?" Marcus asked confused. "Practice." Was Zane's answer.

Five minutes later

Holding cells

Zane had filled them in of what was going then heading to berate the boneheads. "What were you thinking?" Zane said annoyed. The first brother grinned "We found the temple were the lazy bear was sealed but he wasn't there. So, we asked around and that human and plant said you'd be here to thank us." He explained as the other brothers nodded rapidly. "Great job and back home you go!" Zane teleports them back to the Dark Area, where Zane had created a kingdom safe from King Drasil's control.

This was troubling news. The Lord of Sloth was freed somehow and could be anywhere. As he walked past the knocked-out guards on the way back to the command center, something smiled to herself. She'd get it after all.

Five minutes later

Command Center

"We just need to track down the one that freed him and stop their plans cold." Marcus said after Zane explained the looming danger. "Wrong. It could be any Digimon or Human behind it." Thomas said. "I could help, for a price." An unseen female voice said. Sighing Zane said, "Hello Nemesis." Thomas filled them in on who Nemesis, the Greek Goddess, was.

"I can curse the perpetrator for the small price of your Bite of Agony." Nemesis said. Zane weighed the choices. Bite of Agony was a good battle ax, but it was too dangerous to use most of the time. Relevantly, he brought it out, "You have a deal." Zane said as the weapon vanished before their eyes. "The perpetrator will fail. When will they fail? I don't know but they will without a doubt." Nemesis said as her voice faded away.

"Was that the real deal?" Commander Sampson asked. His shades did little to hide the calculating glaze he had. "Yes, she was. We now have a plan B if things go to Tartarus. If you will excuse me, I have a fool to hunt for." Zane says opening a digigate to begin the search.

A few weeks later

King Drasil's Throne room

After searching high and low without any leads, Zane decided to bite the bullet and ask King Drasil. The inside of the sever tree that King Drasil 'lived' in, was crystalline and crystal drones followed his every movement. Most of the Royal Knight towered over him, waiting for orders. Floating one the 'table' the Knight gathered around was a human that looked like Marcus's Father. "So, you are wearing a meat suit for this meeting. I'm touched that you are willing to hear me out." Zane commented.

"You're more useful alive than deleted." King Drasil's emotionless voice came from the body he was using. Who was Zane trying to fool, King Drasil was a 'god computer' masquerading as the 'king'? He felt nothing and understood even less than that. "These 'things' are causing problems. Find the souse of them and remove it along with any more of them you find." King Drasil shows Zane the still sparking remains of a Gizumon, a rookie level spider-like purple spider Digimon with a lens like eye in a tank as it was scanned. "They cause permanent deletion and disrupt the order of the Digital world."

"What are the chances the source of them is the one that freed the lazy bear?" Zane asked. "69.78% chance they are related in some way." King Drasil predicted. "works for me. I can get two jobs down at once. Would you be willing to leave my 'kingdom' alone if I do this for you?" Zane asked. "Those terms are agreeable." King Drasil stated, sealing the deal.

"There is your next target." King Drasil opens a digigate to show Marcus and his Team facing a Saberleomon. Keenan was there too with Falcomon his Digimon partner. They were in oil refinery in the city. Floating across from Saberleomon was the champain level version of Gizumon, unoriginally named 'Gizumon-AT'. It traded it's four arms for two extending ones. Crouching with Pure Nail (Spear) Ready, Zane blitzed forward into the digigate.

Human world

Oil Refinery

"What?" Ever present said in some form. The humans, their partner Digimon, even SaberLeomon was shocked as Zane speared the Gizumon-AT so hard it was in turned into a digiegg that dropped to the ground. Zane surveyed the Digimon. Marcus's partner was Geoagumon, a slightly different agumon. He was in his ultimate level RiseGraymon, A cyborg Digimon was a revolver gun arm and mechanical wings. Thomas' partner, Gaomon, a blue dog with a red headband and boxing gloves. His ultimate level was MachGaogamon, a cyborg blue biped wolf with metal arms, a champain belt across his cheats and rocket boosters on his back.

And Finally, Yoshi's partner Lalamon, a pink flower bud looking Digimon. And her ultimate level was Lilamon, a giant pink flower fairy Digimon. "I believe that this fight is over." Zane said giving no room for argument. "I will crush you! Howling Crusher!" Saberleomon tried to rip Zane apart with his claws but cleaved in two by Zane's spear coated with Hellfire attack. His digiegg joined the first one at Zane's feet. "In one attack. What kind of monster is he?" Felcomon said quivering in terror.

"The kind that saved that kittycat from being permanently delated by that party crasher." Zane said throwing the Gizumon egg back through the digigate for King Drasil to deal with. Keenan's eyes widened. "Just like Frigimon?" He asked. "Did her digiegg turn into raw data? If so, then yes and you have information I need." Zane said as Marcus got in his way. "Why do you need that information?" He demanded. "To find the source of them and 'deal' with it." Zane said calmly.

"It was humans in black. Their faces were covered, and they carried guns. Each Digimon they deleted turned into data that they sucked up." Keenan said as hot tears ran down his face. "I'll find the mastermind and make them suffer. Or they might find me." Zane says with a laugh that promised pain. "Thank you, Lord Daemon! Your kindness matches your skill in battle." Falcomon said bowing with watery eyes, Keenon stiffly bowed too as tears splashed on the ground.

Later

DATS HQ

Command Center

Chief Hashiba, a short dark-haired man wearing a tan suit, the representative from the Japanese Confidentiality Ministry, who oversew DATS, what spitting mad but changed his tone after seeing how powerful Zane was. "Welcome to Earth. Your help is welcomed." He stammered. Zane hated people like him, all he cared about was results and good PR. "Fascinating. This spear is unlike anything I've seen. It's not Chrome Digizord but it cleaved that Digimon like a hot knife." Akihiro Kurata, normal looking black-haired glasses wearing scientist, said amazed. He had this Digimon 'allergy' that Zane knew was faked.

"Where did you send the other digiegg. I'd love to study it." Kurata asked. "I gave it to King Drasil. He wanted it for reasons I don't need to tell you." Zane as Kudamon stiffed from where he normally sat. "You talked to King Drasil?" Commander Sampson asked interested. "The Digimon have a King?" Chief Hashiba said shocked. "He is a king only in name. The only reason you talk to him is if he finds you useful." Zane said with distain. "That is an accurate statement." Kudamon said "Whatever reasons he has; humans would be the last beings to hear them."

Getting an idea, Kurata said "Why don't we send a group to ask Merukimon for peace." Chief Hashiba latched on the idea saying "Wonderful idea. Daemon can help smooth things over, if he's willing to offer a little of his time." He was trying to butter Zane up. "It's in my best interest to help. War will get in the way of finding what I'm looking, not that I will be telling you." Zane said with a cold look. Chief Hashiba shrunk back.

"I will gather the others." Commander Sampson said calmly.

A few days later

Infinite Ice Ridge

Merukimon looked at the group standing before him. He had just explained what happened the day Frigimon was destroyed. Behind the folds of his mantle, Zane grinned. He had talked to Merukimon just after the idea for the peace talk was formed. Now all he had to do was wait for the fool to monologue his crimes.

Right on cue Kurata blabbed how he hated digimon and his Gizumon would help him destroy every one of them. He unveiled his digivice and artificial DNA charge to digivolve Gizumon-AT to its Ultimate level. Gizumon-XT had defined legs, white spheres for a torso, wings, and a second 'head' on top of the first.

"How tacky a creation." Zane said as he sliced Gizumon-XT to ribbons along with the guns that Kurata's men were carrying. "For the reckless murder of countless digimon, I, Daemon sentence you to DEATH!" Kurata creates as a digigate as Zane slaughters his men, who willing killed those digimon. They turn into data that drifts in the air. Kurata escaped but his broken digivice and bloody glasses fall to the ground.

"Damn. He escaped." Zane commented. He turns to the others, "Your families have been relocated and why digimon really attacked was broadcast all over your earth and the digiworld. Not even the government can believe any lies he may spin." Zane said savagely. "Well played. Daemon came to me to make a few traps. I'd say that the only snag was that the filth escaped with only a cut nose and arm to show for it." Merukimon explained.

"A wise fisherman waits for the prey to hook itself as it goes for the bait." An old man wearing glasses says. This was Commander-General Homer Yushima. "Old Fisherman dude! What are you doing here?" Marcus asked. "As back-up but Daemon's trap put that plan on hold. Listen up, we need to defend the digimon from the Gizumon. Kurata may be deleting digimon but he's also collecting their data for something. My gut says it's not for more Gizumon." Yushima said catching their attention.

"That makes sense. He's compiling massive amounts of data over the years and not stopping. We will need to split up." Thomas said. "You guys travel to Cherrymon's forest and help him first. It the most like place that gets attacked first. Be warned, Kurata has created cheap knockoffs of something he saw on a temple wall. He calls them 'Bio-Hybrids'." Zane scoffs in disgust.

Merukimon asks "You mean you've seen true Digimon Human fusions? They are said to be some of the most powerful chosen ones ever to be called to aid the Digiworld." Zane laughed. "I fought alongside that Legendary Warriors and slaughtered that brat Lucemon. In fact, I'll share something that will set Kurata's blood a boil." Zane says as a cocoon of data covers him. As it disappeared Zane in his human form stood there.

"I am the first Digimon human hybrid. Daemon and My fusion happened in the depths of a hellish place. For revenge we fused and from that rough template, the humans that would be known as the legendary warriors were called to save the digiworld." Zane said. "I see. That's how you knew about what was going to happen. You spied on him as a human." Thomas theorized. "We can use that to our advantage. One question, where does that 'lazy bear' fit in to this?"

Thomas' question was a good one. "He's the last target on Daemon's list. Pride, Greed, and Sloth betrayed him. Envy and Gluttony just attack anyone in the chaos when the betrayal happened. Lust just sat back and watched not helping anyone, she enjoyed the show. Daemon helped me on my revenge, and I intend to finish up his." Zane explained.

Three months later

Human world

Over the three months they had trashed Kurata's forces and the partnered Digimon achieved mega level with the help of BanchoLeomon, a mega level version of leomon that looked like he was from a biker gang. He told them that was a power beyond mega called 'Burst Mode', they unlocked and mastered that too. But even that was not enough for the battle that was happening at this very moment. Belphemon had been freed by Kurata and feed the data he was collecting. Things were fine with four Burst Mode level Digimon against Belphemon Sleep Mode, a car sized horned and bat wing eared teddy bear wrapped in chains and an alarm clock, but then the curse struck. Kurata forced Belphemon to go into Rage Mode. It went from deadly and adorable to kaiji sized six bat winged horned bear monster with chains and giant glowing claws.

The first thing Belphemon Rage Mode did was to eat the van Kurata was 'controlling' him from. "That curse kind of worked." Zane commented leaning on Pure Nail (Spear) in his Daemon (Beast Mode) form. Then things got even worse, Belphemon Rage Mode was only capable of roaring wordlessly, but he spoke in two voices and roars. "Daemon! We challenge you!" It was the voices of Lucemon and Barbamon were mixed in with the roars.

"The Lords of Pride and Greed lowered to using the mindless beast that is the Lord of Sloth. How the mighty have fallen." Zane said. The partner Digimon tried to fight but were knocked away so hard they reverted rookie level. Thus, that battle to decide the war started. Belphemon Rage Mode had power but now it had two minds to use that power better.

After the first few exchanges, it became clear that Zane would need to use 'THAT'. Daemon realized this too. To merge as one being totally to reach the fabled 'Ultra Level'. "This may be the last time we are as we are. I dreamed of reaching that level, but will we be us ever again?" Daemon mentally asked unsure. "We will be fine. We are the two most stubborn beings ever to survive the Realm of Darkness!" Zane declared with grin.

Data of unbelievable density and volume cocooned him, and battlefield fell silent. "Any idea what he's planning?" Yoshi asked as she cradled Lalamon. "unless he found someway to go past his version of Burst mode, I have no idea." Thomas said as a mounting dread creeped into the minds. "Frigimon told me the legend of the Ultra level. Daemon, who fell from grace, searched for a way to reach it sense the dawn of the Digital Worlds' creation." Keenan answered. "I remember that story. She said Daemon lacked something to bridge the gap." Falcomon coughed.

The cocoon broke revealing Daemon (Ultra). Daemon (Ultra) had looked like (Beast Mode) but his claws, horns, and the bottom half of his wings were blue. His chest had yellow digicode on it and his midriff was made of a flame like data. "He did it? Kick him to the curb!" Marcus yelled. Daemon (Ultra) chuckled in a smooth baritone voice. It was odd. One moment there was Zane and Daemon but now that was someone new.

"Well said Marcus." Daemon (Ultra) said then turned to the quivering Belphemon Rage Mode. "Lucemon, do you remember what I dreamed? Well I did it and you traitors get to taste it's power." The fool swiped at Daemon (Ultra) but was stopped cold with a wing. "NO! We will not be beaten by some ant." They declared trying again and again with every attack they had. Not even the digigate ripening breath attack, that they made after eating Kurata's digigate bombs, was halted.

Belphemon Rage Mode gasped for air as they had exhausted their energy. "Algol's Flame." Daemon (Ultra) Said firing a backetball sized fireball at the enemy. It struck and expanded to engulf Belpemon Rage Mode completely. The flames flashed so white hot that it was like the birth of a new sun for single moment before it vanished leaving three digieggs behind.

The humans and Digimon cheered as data wrapped around Daemon (Ultra). When data cleared Zane lay on the ground out cold and human. "The legend has become real." Kudamon commented as Commander Sampson walked up to him. "Indeed, it has. Paramedics will be arriving to shortly." Commander Sampson said as the team ran up after returning their Digimon to their digivices. "Is he alive?" Keenan asked. "Mentally and physically drain but unharmed. He reached where few Digimon ever reach. Even fewer live to talk about it." Kudamon explained.

"you mean he could die?" Yoishi asked. "there is a slim chance." Kudamon admitted. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, 20 foot draconic white and gold knight Digimon with feathery wings, landed near them. With him was Marcus's Father's body and Bancholeomon. "As agreed, Spencer Damon, who get your body back." King Drasil said removing himself from the 'meat suit'. The he took Spencer soul from Bancholeomon's body, returning it to its proper body.

"Dad? What's going on?" Marcus asked. Spencer stretched. "I ran into some trouble and King Drasil took my body while I hid in Bancholeomon's body." Spencer said. "So, you trained us." Thomas said. "Partially right. He may have been in my body, but I assisted in the training. At some point have you left the dojo; this guy came to us offering a bet with King Drasil. If Zane reaches Ultra level, then he'd return the body. If Zane failed, then he'd wipe out the human world." Bancholeomon explained.

"The founder comes at last. Too good to kill me?" Zane coughs staring blurry at Imperialdramon Paladin Mode, the founder of the Royal Knights, clearly not all there mentally. Zane using Pure Nail (spear) to stand, sort of. "I see that you survive the ordeal. I sense that Daemon is still alive too." Imperialdramon Paladin Mode said impressed. "Are the real founder?" Spencer asked. Imperialdramon Paladin Mode chuckled "I am he. I retired many years ago. The only reason I came was because I had to witness what my rival could do. You have learned much since we clashed blades in your rebellion, old friend."

This shocked everyone one but Zane. "Yes, I was his friend when he was a Seraphimon. He is still my friend as his pursuit for knowledge drove him to do the things he did." Imperialdramon Paladin Mode said reminiscing. "Keep your promise to witness the creation of Daemon (Ultra)." Daemon said, using Zane's body for a moment. "And it was worth the wait." Imperialdramon Paladin Mode says as Zane as he slept on his feet. Everyone laughed, happy that it was over.

A week later

The Damon Household

Zane shot up with a start. He was in the guest room at the Damon's home. As he tried to piece together what happened he realized something was missing. The ever-present dark whispering that he had been hearing since his father died was silent. After decades of hearing that bad advice spewing whisper, it was odd not to hear it. "We obtained total control over Wrath and Grief. To put it simply, we are now enlightened. You can only really tell the benefits as Daemon (Ultra) but some of it trickled down to our unmerged selves." Daemon explained mentally.

Zane started laughing. He was a 'monk of Wrath and Grief' now. This was priceless. The next thing Daemon was going to tell him that the manifestation of his wrath and grief, and ugly as hell fish, was now an eastern style dragon. "That happened as a side effect. Things got a little weird in here. The muddy pond it sat in, turned into a river up a mountain and a gate sat at the peak. Next thing I know, that ugly whispering fish swims up it and BOOM, it's a dragon." Daemon mentally said trying to explain what happened in brief window of time between starting the digivlotion to (Ultra) and it being finished.

Zane laughed ever harder. "Sister, he's awake." A brown-haired girl, who 'looked' to be 12 wearing an armored dress and carrying a staff topped with a crystal Zane knew was the same as the stuff King Drasil's 'tree' was made of, said. Two more girls that looked just like her entered the room. The only difference between the three of them were the eye colors.

"Greetings Lord Zane We are the 'daughters' of Norn Mikihara, an overseer from another Digiworld you have yet to visit. I am Urd." The brown eyed one said. "I am Verdandi." The green eyed one said. "And I am Skuld." The Blue eyed one said as they curtsied. "So, someone like King Drasil named after the Norse fates, named her 'daughters' she created, after the Norse Fates. I give her credit; it fits the theme." Zane comments as they giggle amused.

"Indeed, it does. You slept a week." Urd comments. "What did I miss?" Zane asked. "King Drasil decided that this digiworld to too much work and moved on to start fresh. As a result, we were tasked to oversee this one in his place." Verdandi stated amused. "What about the unstable time space problem?" Zane pointed out the window that the trench-like digigate that cut through the sky. "The damage could be reversed easily but it would cut off the human world and digiworld from each other. Instead we will make permanent digigates at select locations. This will be the more humane solution." Skuld finished.

"That is a good idea. Not to sound rude but, how old are you three?" Zane asked. "We were created 59 years, 9 hours, and 6 minutes ago." Verdandi stated. "You have claimed ownership of the seven code keys of sin. What will you do with them?" Skuld asked. The seven code keys were the 'physical form' of data that let the Great Demon Lords use the backdoors and other neat features. At some point in the past, the seven demon lords sealed secrets they learned away so no one could use it against them.

You need all seven code keys to unlock the vault hidden deep in the Dark Area. It was also one of the reasons the group had a falling out in the end. "Some much needed repairs to the black door system. And I know not one of you overseers can detect it." Zane said. "That is fact and a sore spot for many of the overseers, but not us or Norn." Verdandi said amused. "I believe that they are have lunch soon. It'd be a crime to miss out on Sarah Damon's wonderful cooking." She adds as the sisters leave the room.

Later in the dining room

"It's good to see the Great Protector back on his feet." Spencer said amused. Sarah Damon, his wife, was a youthful looking woman with curly brown hair and olive colored eyes. "I was told what you did. Thank you for bring my family back together." She said setting a plate of food in front of him then setting platter for the rest of the people. "Your lucky you don't have to deal with Marcus and Agumon hording the eggs." Kristy Damon, Marcus' ten-year-old little sister, said annoyed. She had auburn in short pigtails and bright green eyes. Her partner Digimon, Biyomon, was battling Agumon and Marcus with chopsticks to secure food for him and Kristy.

The three Norn sisters, somehow without anyone noticing, had snuck in and taken their portions without a sound. Zane chalked it up to supercomputer level reaction time. "Kristy, he just woke up. He needs to take it easy or he'll sleep another week." Sarah said half worried and half joking. Mother and Daughter share a knowing smile. "this is great. Fourth best food I've ever eaten." Zane says pausing the fighting. "Only fourth? What's better than her eggs?" Agumon asked in disbelief. Ticking off from third to first. "Third, is my wife's cooking, sometimes. Aqua isn't the best cook but some of the food she makes it to die for." Spencer and Sarah nod at this. It made perfect sense to them. "Second is Lady Hestia's cooking. She is the goddess of anything to do with the home, including home cooked meals." This got them chuckling. He was devoted. "And finally, best food ever is, my Mother's berry pie. She baked it so perfect. Never lost a tasting contest that she used it in." Zane said with a far off look in his eyes. "That must have been legendary pie if it beats a goddess' cooking." Biyomon mused.

"I can make some, if you want. It won't be as good as hers was, but I've gotten close enough to imagine what it was like." Zane says. "That'd be lovely. Do you need help shopping for anything you might need?" Sarah asked. Amused, Zane wagged a finger, saying, "No can do. Have to protect the recipe." Sarah smiled also amused. "We'll have it after dinner. Can you make enough for the others? They will love to try some after they hear how good it is."

Zane smiled "Of course I can."

Later that evening

At the Norstain Mansion

Zane had just finished the pies and pushed the cart carrying them to the dining room. He was greeted by all the DATS group, their families, Digimon, and others yelling "Surprise!" The room had the looks of a party but the banner, that said 'Victory Party', fell away to reveal 'Happy birthday Zane!'. "How did you know?" Zane asked. "A faith spouse should always remember things like that." Aqua says spinning him around and kissing him on the lips.

"You think we'd miss a chance to have a party, Father?" Sakura asked amused. She had matured over the two years. "My little Sparrow! How was school? Fight any super monsters? Save the world?" Zane asked after the kiss ended. Sakura wasn't embarrassed by the nickname anymore and hugged her parents. "It was as you'd expect with our luck." She said then they finished the statement together "Chaotic, memorable, and guaranteed to provide souvenirs after things die down!"

"Brother, is he the one that got me these legs?" A young blonde-haired girl, using a basic exo-suit set up on her legs to walk, asked Thomas. This was Relena Norstein, Thomas's younger half-sister. "Yes, this is the one who helped you walk better. You won't need them after I find a cure." Zane smiled. "Is that any problems with the DNA charge powered exo-suit prosthetic aids?" Zane asked. "It was hard at first but once I got it to work, I can run on the beach." Relana said with joy. The exo-suit used DNA charge to act as a bridge to the locomotive system of the body. In Relana's case there was disease that made the nerve signals to be weakened and impairing her ability to walk.

"Those Datamon that work for you can good at their job." Franz Norstein, the halfsiblings' father, said grateful. He had slicked back blonde hair and worry lines on his face. He hadn't been the best father but after the war he made peace with his son, Thomas. "They are what I like to call my tech support. If its tech related, they will overclock themselves if that's what it takes to solve it. I'm not kidding about the overclocking part; I've had to order them to take a break before them fried themselves once." Zane said.

An hour later

The party was winding down and Zane opening the presents. Books, a bottle of wine, and other things. But then Zane saw a wooden chest with Norse runes on it. "Where did that come from?" Marcus asked and fails to move it. "It wasn't there earlier." Thomas comments frowning. "It appeared in a beam of rainbow light when we were having the pie." Biyomon said, as he had been the only one to notice it happen.

Zane scrutinized the runes. "'To my battle brother Zane,' Wow he listed all my titles. I'll skip those. 'I heard you lost one of your weapons in your war with the robot using mortal. I hope this is a good replacement for it.'" Zane read. The chest melted away leaving a double-edged battle axe, that was roughly the same size as Bite of Agony, made of a stone-like metal and its name inscribed on it blades in runes.

"Marcus don't you dare grab it." Sarah, as she should, warned but he tried anyways. Staining he pulled but the axe did not move. "What is this made of?" He grunted and he pulled. Chuckling Zane said "Uru metal, He went all out when he had this made." Zane lifts it with ease. "stjörnu börn means 'star children'. A fitting name for a weapon forged to hold the power of a blue giant." Zane said the name of the weapon and felt a connection to it. It was alive but not.

"forged using a star and enchanted, which is no easy feat, to hold a newborn star moments after it formed. Thor has great taste in presents." Zane explained. It seemed crazy to them but so did the digiworld. Spencer started laughing "You weren't kidding when you said he had friends in strange places." Spencer said to the Norn Sister. "And this weapon is better suited for you, right honey?" Aqua said amused as Zane created a thin layer of plasma on the razer edges of the weapon by feeding energy into it.

"Let's fight!" Marcus said. One poke to the face and Marcus was frozen with a spectral clock ticking. "He will be fine. I hit him with a time spell." Zane says as he started doodling on Marcus' face. The clock vanished and Marcus looked confused why everyone was laughing at him. "Is there something on my face?" He asked. His face looked like a beaten boxer. Zane had doodled on black eyes and other 'bruises'.

"Oh, come ON!" Marcus said annoyed. "You need to be a lot strong to fight me at level you'd enjoy. Why don't you travel the digiworld? There will all of Digimon that will be annoyed at the permanent gates being a thing." Zane offered. Skuld grinned saying "We would like to invite the members of DATS to be peacekeepers. You will be on a rotation system, so it doesn't interfere with your mortal lives."

Commander Sampson, smiling said. "I speak on the behalf of all of them, because I know the agree with me, and say that we would be more than willing to smooth things over in turbulent times the digiworld is facing with a new leader in place." Kudamon added "I thank you for letting me stay in the human world, I've grown fond of it."

A few weeks later

Land of Departure

"Master Eraqus, you told me that negativity gets you closer to the darkness. Finally, I understand that you were both right and wrong." Zane was monologuing to Eraqus grave. "For years I wanted that whisper to disappear yet when it did, I realized that is needed. It's something that defines me." Zane then chuckles. "Turns out it went from being a mud dwelling provoker to a dragon shaped aspect of my mind that wants to help me, even if most of its plans are 'burn them to ashes for their transgressions' or something like that."

Zane looked around when he heard something. "I did promise we'd have another dual, right Master Zane?" It was the lingering will of Master Eraqus. "Show me you can use your Keyblade to the level of a Keyblade master." Zane summoned his Keyblade and took his stance. "I knew you'd leave an echo behind. Let's have a dual so grand your real self feels it in the afterlife!" Zane declares as they are transported to an arena the size of the football field with a black dome around it. Zane dawned his armor and blitz forward. The echo of master eraqus met him halfway starting the final battle Master and Student would ever have.

Unknown to ether of them they were entertainment for some 'people'. The battle was crazy. Swordplay, magic, lasers and transforming weapons. In the span of a few minutes, the area was falling apart. The dome was moments away from breaking when Zane used one last attack. "Grand Scale: Orbital Scattershot Bombardment!" A literal rain of speeding exploding fireballs shot from all directions, aimed at the lingering will. The explosion was powerful enough to destroy the arena and dome. Zane stood on some of the floating rubble as the lingering will started to fade away. "Well done. You pass my last test, Keyblade Master Zane." It said proudly.

Cheering caused Zane to look around him to see round floating platforms and a ritzy looking palace in a bubble looking platform. "Well done. The Omni Kings are pleased with the expedition match." A white-haired blue-skinned being with a halo behind his head said. He was wearing a loose-fitting blue uniform with an upside-down orange triangle on the front of it. He also had the kanji for 'Great' on the gold belt buckle of the red belt he wore.

"I have no idea what is going on. Could you enlighten me, please?" Zane asked as a platform appeared next to him. He jumped on it and found a nice seat waiting for him. He dismissed his armor and weapon as he sat down. The platform moved up to be level with the halo dude's mini platform. "You have been invited to watch the Tournament of Power that will be held soon." The Angel dude explained. "I think you forgot to tell me somethings." Zane pointed out.

"There is much work to do, so I will let my son explain things." Angel dude said teleporting Zane away.

Dragonball Mutiverse

Universe 7 Earth

West City

Capsule Corp HQ

Zane was dropped in the back lawn of a dome shaped building with an indent in the back that had a balcony in it. It was nighttime and Zane wondered if he'd get snacks at the 'Tournament of Power', it'd be nice after being drafted to watch it. "Hello there, young man. Just dropping in?" A short stocky man, with short blue gray hair and a white bushy mustache wearing glasses, said amused as he walked up to Zane. He was wearing a white lab coat, blue undershirt and black pants. "Hello. I'm Scratch." The small black cat resting on the man's shoulder meowed in greeting, but only Zane understood it.

"I'm Zane Laskaris and I had no say in coming here." Zane says waving back. The man laughs lighting a cigarette and puffs smoke rings. "I'm not surprised. I am Dr. Brief. Welcome to Capsule Corp." He offers a hand as Zane stands up and shakes it. "If I had to guess you are involved with Goku's next problem. If he wasn't a Saiyan he wouldn't be so good at attracting so much trouble." Dr. Brief guessed.

"Did you say Goku, as in Son Goku, one of the most annoying beings in the eyes of the Council of Death?" Zane asked worried. Dr. Brief blinks surprised. "I didn't know death had a Council. What did Goku do to earn that title?" He asked. "He helped another annoyance make death have less meaning. They only refer to the being as the one that invented a 'Dragon Rader'" Zane said.

"Oh. You mean my Daughter, Bulma Brief. That radar was one of her notable inventions. I can see why death would hate that." Dr. Brief shrugged. "You don't mind if I smoke do you? Bulma gets annoyed when I do it indoors." Zane chuckled "My wife gets annoyed when I cause explosions indoors. Says that I'll find some way to burn myself despite my immunity to heat and flames. I do the back stroke in lava as hot as a star." Zane said.

"You an inventor of sorts?" Dr. Brief said interested. "I tinker and make things that tend to explode after they fail. It's more a hobby and a means to aid my other pursuits. I invented a way to transport ice cream through time and space without any side effects whatsoever. Can't sell Ice Cream and make you glow in the dark without someone trying to sue you. That poor employee was used to go spelunking for a year." Zane said rolling his eyes. "Can't have bad products on the market. It attracts those reporting vultures like a rotting corpse does the real thing." Dr. brief said annoyed.

"Don't I know it. They snoop around the locations for anything juicy to gossip about." Zane said with a shared annoyance for nosey reporters. There was a flash, Goku and his group returned from wherever they had been. "Alright! Where is that 'honored guest'? Oh, there he is!" A purple cat looking being said as he grabbed him and dragged his away. "It was nice chatting with you Dr. Brief!" Zane said.

They dragged him up to the balcony of the building and throw him into a chair. "Now listen here. I don't care who you are but because you impressed The Omni Kings, I have to watch you and make sure you get to the tournament of Power unharmed and happy." The purple cat being said getting up in his face. Zane noted the garb he was wearing, an Egyptian looking. "Lord Beerus, threatening him would make him unhappy. Try bribing him instead." The 'son' of the angel dude said. He had white hair styled to be tall and wavy. His 'halo was on his neck in to front and behind his head on the back. He was wearing a robe and carrying a staff topped with sideways Saturn looking thing.

"Whis that is what I'm doing. He doesn't screw this up and I don't destroy him." Beerus snapped back at Whis. "Just tell me what's going on! I was just going to have the fight with the echo of my dead master when it was turned into a show. I feel completely disrespected." Zane grumbled. "I agree. That was a private affair aired for all to see." A boastful looking man with a black thinning afro, mustache and sideburns, said. "Call me, Hercule Satan or as the fans call me, Mr. Satan." The man offers a hand that Zane shakes.

"To sum it up, in 40 hours there will be a battle royal style tournament to decide the fate of the universe that aren't strong enough in the eyes of Omni King Zeno, the present one and his future counterpart. The universe with most warriors left wins a wish on the super dragon balls." Whis explains briefly. Zane remembered something "Is there seven of them, one to seven and the dragon that grants the wish is called Shenron?" Zane asked. "You are thinking of the normal dragon balls. These are moon sized and it's super Shenron." A black spiky hair person with an orange gi that Zane knew was Goku, corrected.

"Dad how did he know that if he's from a dimension outside of the Omni kings' sphere of influence?" Son Gohan, who looked like his father but had shorter spike hair and wore glass, asked. "That's easy to answer. His clan has a lot of information about this multiverse." Whis said calmly. He frowned "Strange. He feels human, but there is the energy of one who has ascended to that of the gods in some way."

"What kind, Whis?" Beerus demanded. "Enlightenment, my lord." Whis said scanning Zane. Beerus relaxed a little. "That's a relief. The last thing we need is a daemon berserker." Beerus said. "a daemon?" Buu, a fat pink djinn type being, asked confused. "Daemon is a term for lesser spirits or gods that sit between Gods and Mortals." Whis said. "AH! This is most interesting. Few become enlightened in Wrath and Grief." Beerus looked at Whis. "Just lovely. I'd take a berserker over that. At least then I know what to expect." Beerus grumbled. Buu sniffs Zane. "Buu smells ice cream!" Buu said, then stared at Zane intently. "Fine! I Share some with you. Beerus, this maybe an odd question but was your race around before cats or after cats?" Zane asked. Beerus did answer glaring at him as Whis chuckled softly.

Five minutes later

Zane set bowls of 'Taste of Home' ice cream sundaes. "You're lucky this is good ice cream." Beerus grumbled. "Buu loves it." Buu said hugging Zane. "Glad to hear it." Zane said. "Interesting. Your planet isn't there." Whis said as he used his staff and powers to investigate Zane's universe. "His planet is what?" Vegeta (who's spiky troll hair and how short he was, amused Zane) said. He looked like he just got done with some training. "Maybe it moved." Beerus suggested. "You know how planets are after a hit knocks them out of orbit." Beerus' offhand comment showed how little he cared about the fate of planets he didn't pay any mind.

"That's not it, Lord Beerus. All there is only a planet of molten rock where it should be and it's much too young to be Zane's home planet. Something happened there and it wasn't recent. I'd say several millennia ago it happened." Whis said as he peered into the distant past. Beerus glared "Are you suggesting this mortal is a time traveler? You know it's forbidden to traverse time." Beerus said with a dangerous edge. Goku, and the other 'mortals' were worried. "Looks like he traveled at FTL speeds, so it's not time travel in the normal way. But he was sent back a decade via magic that didn't create a parallel universe, somehow." Whis said as he searched. Beerus growled. Zane had used a loophole and couldn't be punished.

"Oh my! His planet was the center of a comic rebirth. That explains a lot of things about his universe's diverse worlds." Whis said as Beerus froze. Confused Gohan asked "Is that like the Big Bang?" Whis pauses then says. "A cosmic rebirth is a rare event that happens when a world is dying but the inhabits of said world are so unwilling to die that the very universe is warped. Ideas becoming reality is among other oddities that can happen. The world it starts from is destroyed and many of the inhabits are lost."

Zane was stock still. "You aren't talking about a planet where the only living thing is a shapeshifting creature that is like an overgrown puppy when I visit it?" Zane asked hoping he was wrong. "Indeed, it is. You have the rare honor of being the first friend of the will of that planet. Although that planet is as hot as the surface of a star on the coldest days, with no sign it will ever cool down, so it's likely you are it's only friend." Whis said. Zane now understood why he loved relaxing there, it was where 'Earth Prime' had been. "I'll be back." Zane said turning into his firebird form and flying away.

"Great job Whis. If he gets one scratch on him and Grand Zano will erase me. Go and bring him back." Beerus demanded. "Give him time to reflect on what he learned." Vegeta said "He was just told a planet he found was where his old one was before it was destroyed. He'll be fine, you sensed how powerful he is." Vegeta pointed out. He had his moments of being nice.

An hour later

Monster Island (Nature preserve somewhere out to sea)

Zane stopped midflight when a 'human' floated in the air and blasted a ship that was approaching the island. He had blank expression on his face as his straight black hair moved in the wind. "more poachers who don't know when to quit." He droned like it just another day on the job. Zane noted the ranger uniform he was wearing. "Why are you here?" The 'human' asked with an energy ball pointed at Zane. "Would you believe that I was just flying to think in peace?" Zane asked. The energy ball vanished and the 'human' said "I see. I better keep an eye on you." Zane was grabbed by the legs and the 'human' landed at the ranger station.

A few hours later

Zane had learned that the 'human' was called Android 17 (More like cyborg, but the quack who experimented on him hadn't known that that or didn't care.). And that he protected this island from earthling and alien threats. He had a sister called 18, and the biggest thing Zane learned was, that both had perpetual motion engines powering them. Perpetual Motion technology was all about a power source that ran forever without need for maintenance or fuel to keep it running. It was one of the crown jewels of the technological world.

Zane was in his human form scanning 17. "This is amazing! Dr. Gero may have a quack with a lot of screws loose but he knew how to make a power source." Zane praised. "I won't tell a soul about this place." Zane stated. 17 was interested in The Garden, so Zane told him about it. "Sounds nice. How many animals are in there?" 17 asked in interested drone. "I never counted. None of them ever caused trouble and some are nearly impossible to track down on a good day." Zane admitted. Seven blue bug-like humanoid creatures spied from the window.

"Why are there Cell Jrs here?" Zane asked. Cell Jr were the 'spawn' of the bio android Cell, who tried to destroy the earth before Gohan defeated him. "They live here, just like the animals. IS that a problem?" 17 said without explaining how it happened. "that's fine, I was just wondering. I can't really call them monsters without being a hypocrite." Zane said with a shrug. 17 nodded. "you don't mind if I have a look at the wildlife, do you?" Zane asked turning back to a bird. When he got the OK and scouted the island.

Five hours later

Somewhere on the island

The rarest creature Zane found was a herd of Minotaurus, a giant purple bull-like creature whose horns were a key ingredient for an elixir of immortally (Zane didn't know if that was truth or rumor). He landed on the horn of the biggest one. "What do you want feather duster?" The leader bull grumbled. "Just dropping in to ask something. Are there any spare horns laying around?" Zane asked. The bull huffed. Check in the clearing not far south from here. I defended my spot as leader from a younger male not too long ago. Too cocky to lead the herd."

Zane thanked him and flew to the clearing. He found the broken horn and snagged it.

An hour later

Back at the ranger station

"What did you find out?" 17 asked as Zane finished scanning the horn. "Most likely the so called 'immortality elixir' is just extreme longevity. Other than that, the horn is strong and, with your permission, an item I'd like to craft something with." Zane says. "Just this horn, right?" 17 asked and Zane nodded. "Go ahead, you were given it freely." He relented. "Thanks. I'll be heading out know." Zane put horn in his bag the flew away as a bird.

About six hours later

Kami House

Below Zane was a pink and red house sitting on a tiny island. It was about 10 am, so there was enough light for Zane to see a sea turtle and a bald old man with a long beard, wearing shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and shade. They were relaxing outside the house in the shade of one of the few palm trees. Zane racked his brain to remember the old man's name. Oh right! Master Roshi the Turtle Hermit. Out of nowhere Goku appeared on the island, prompting Zane to fly down.

"There you are Zane! Is everything alright?" Goku asked. "I've been better. What brings you so visit the Turtle Hermit?" Zane alighting on the brown sea turtle's shell. "I was hoping he join the team and maybe teach me the Evil Containment Wave technique." Goku said. "WAIT! You mean he knows the thing that inspired me to create my Jar of Sealing?" Zane squawked.

Master Roshi looked at Zane in a new light. "And what pray tell is this Jar of Sealing?" Zane flies off Turtle (Yes that his name) and switches back to human form. "Using runes and magic I created a vessel and can contain very powerful things." Zane shows them his latest iteration of it. "What's the strongest things you sealed up?" Master Roshi asked. "The metaphysical god that was made of the evils of mankind." Zane said. "how did you keep a god in this?" Goku said trying find how it opens.

"The better question is, why was a god like that anywhere near you?" Master Roshi demanded shocked. "The foolish actions of humans awaken all sorts of things. Haven't found anything that broke out after I sealed it." Zane said mildly. Master Roshi stroked his beard. "You said you based it off the Evil Containment Wave. I can see the similarities but yours required mastery of runes and magic to create a vessel, where the Evil Containment Wave can use any vessel if you have enough Ki to overpower the enemy." Zane was taking notes as Roshi explained the details of the Evil Containment Wave to Goku.

A few hours before deadline

Meeting place for the team

"This is Zane, a 'VIP' if you will." Whis explained to the team as Goku left to find a tenth warrior for the team. The team was Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, 17, 18, Master Roshi, Krillin, Piccolo, Tien, and a tenth slot to be filled. The short bald guy wearing a gi like goku's, was Krillin, 17's brother in-law because he married 18. 18 was a lot like 17 but she had blonde hair, female and expressed more emotions. Tien was a tricloptic human(?) monk with an eye on his forehead that worked. That left the green turban wearing alien that was Piccolo.

"Is his universe going to be destroyed?" 18 asked. "No Lord Zeno has no power of his universe. The only reason he is here because he's 'interesting'." Beerus grumbled. "He just needs to be unharmed by the end of this and he is being sent back home. The sooner the better." Zane rolled his eyes at Beerus' comments. "You bought the dragon balls?" Zane asked.

There were few last-minute arrivals, the supreme Kais (current and Old Kai). The supreme Kais were the forces of creation like Beerus and anyone the works for him are forces of destruction. Both Kais styled white mohawks and lavender skin. Shin looked youthful compared to Old Kai who was wrinkled. Old Kai looked at Zane then said "What is one of the Children of the Hearth doing here? It's bad enough that you spy on this universe but now you invade it AGAIN!" he yelled annoyed. "Shut it, old timer. It's Grand Zeno's doing this time." Beerus cuts him off. "Whis the Dragonballs." Whis drops all seven of the fist-sized wishing orbs on ground. "Come forth Shenron!" Zane yells as the skies darken and the dragonballs glow. From them a green eastern styled dragon appears looking down on them. In a booming voice he said, "Who dares summon the eternal dragon?" Zane looking straight at him said "I did, Shenron." Shenron was shocked but answered "Very well Child of Hestia speak you three wishes."

"For my first wish, I wish for any my order relics that were lost here be returned at my feet." Zane requested. "Your wish is granted." The dragon said as a brazier made of bronze appears behind Zane. "For my next wish, I wish for a way to see and hear things happening faraway." Dragon's eyes flashed again, and a car-sized stone basin appeared. "peer into it's depths with a desire and it will show you seek." Shenron explained.

"I wish to talk to the spirit of Barak Laskaris." Zane requested. Dragon said nothing for five minutes making Beerus annoyed "Just grant his wish, lazy lizard!" The dragon started to sweat as he explains "Lord Beerus I didn't see you there. The spirit has moved on beyond my reach. The closest I can do to granting the wish is to call a servant from the Throne of Heroes." Shenron tried not to wilt under Beerus' glare.

A red cloaked figure holding a fire poker appeared. "Servant Caster answers your call. Who calls the first Hearth Leader?" He said. Zane looked at him and answered, "Zane Laskaris current Hearth Leader of the Children of the Hearth greets you, Barak Laskaris, my many times great grandfather, with open arms." Caster Barak Laskaris looked at Zane intently. In a soft voice he asked, "How has life been since I cursed the family?" Zane smiled. "It may be a curse, but I wouldn't have it any other way. In fact, we have a family motto about how life is for us." Zane said.

"go on." Barak Laskaris said. It goes something like this: 'Chaotic, memorable, and guaranteed to provide souvenirs after things die down!'" Barak Laskaris stares then laughs. "Truly we are blessed with interesting family members. I can't stay much longer." He was already starting to fade. Zane hugs him and he returns the hug. "Thank you for making that deal. Without that I'd never meet the love of my life or have a daughter as wonderful as Sakura. One more thing, I've gotten half the relics back." Zane whispers. Barak Laskaris, smiling under his hood, whispered back, "Thank you for proving I made the right choice that day. Farewell my many times great grandson." Zane was crying as he stood there, hugging air.

"Until next time." Shenron said disappearing as the dragon balls turn to stone and scattering across the planet. "Where is Goku? We've got an hour before the deadline and he's still not back yet." Beerus complained. "We'll be back." Whis says as He and Beerus go to track down Goku. "So, what's with the dish with legs?" 17 asked. "It's a brazier. An open fire pit used for several things. I'd say this was used to burn offerings. Note the quality of the metalwork. This must have been in a Temple of Hestia back in the day." Master Roshi said

"Why was it here if it's from Zane's universe? Krillin asked. "It must have been the Cosmic Rebirth that happened." Gohan theorized. Everyone had been filled in on what that was. "He's right. Out of all the things it could have been, only the central offering brazier is in this multiverse, but it is the one of the most important ones that were lost." Zane said softly. "Why do you not hate him for 'cursing your family for this long? It makes no sense." Shin asked. "Because it let them live this long. You weren't alive when they first appeared in the multiverse. I was just an apprentice to the Supreme Kai at that time. Out of nowhere a red robed mortal drops on to the Supreme Kai staining their robes with blood. We healed him and requested answers. He after the holder of Hestia's Hearth Flame, and almost killed himself getting here to do so. We managed to pry the origin of their group from him and it wasn't pretty. Zane's family line would have died out without the deal that we never got the details of. We dropped him on a random planet and that was last I heard of him but then THEY started to spy on this multiverse like beach comber searches for treasure." Old Kai said frowning at Zane.

"He never returned. That's why we spied. To find where he died." Zane answered. Zane drank in the details of the brazier. "Almost 32,000 years ago, this was stolen. It fits that the direct descendent of the founder would find it." Zane whispered as Goku, Beerus, and Whis returned with tenth warrior.

Standing, looking amused, was the reptilian white and purple alien that was Frieza of the Frost Demon clan. "Would you look at that? A member of the fire huggers that my father complained about spying on him on him from afar. I'm touched after all those years of spy on me that you showed up in person." Frieza said condescendingly. "am I the only one that feels the urge to kill him?" Zane asked the other fighters. He got a lot of agreements that Frieza took in stride. "Yes, my death would please you, but I am still 'dead'. See the halo?" He indicates the yellow halo over his head.

"We need to get to the Tournament of Power. Whis?" Beerus said as Zane stowed away the basin and brazier. "Grand Minister, we are ready for transport." Whis said and they were teleported to the void space where Zane had been before he was dropped in the seventh universe.

Void space

Zane was dropped in a seat next to the Zenos. They were child sized beings with football shape head that had a blue station in the middle-framed purple and yellow 'ears' that looked like rings. They were wearing robes that and were waiting excited for the event. They had a child-like personality and the power to erase and recreate this multiverse on a whim, a dangerous combination. "I hope you enjoy the VIP seating. Don't worry about snacks." The Grand Minister, aka Angel Dude said smiling.

"Thank you for inviting me. How long had it been in my universe?" Zane asked politely. "about a day or two at most." The Grand Minister answered doing a little math. "That's not too bad. When does the event begin?" Zane asked. "Soon. We are waiting for one more universe to show up." The Grand Minister said.

(Skipping to the end because There is no way I can do it justice)

A few hours later

"That was crazy." Zane said breathlessly from so much cheering. "Yes, it was amazing." Present Zeno said. "Don't forget the thing." Future Zeno said. "The thing? Oh, the thing." Present Zeno said confused at first but them remembered. They clapsed hands and there was a flash that blinded Zane.

Zane's Universe

The Garden

Zane blinked and looked around. He was in one of the rooms under the palace. He spotted the 'thing', a giant snow globe statue hybrid depicting his final attack on the lingering will. It was made of some impossible material Zeno made on the fly to last forever. This was a keeper. He fingered the key to the workshop. Now would be a good time to check it out. He imagined putting it into a lock and turned it. In the middle of the air, a 'door' swing inward. Zane walked in and the 'door' closed behind him.

Star Forge

Zane looked at the place with amazement. There were tools and molds lining the walls, anvils, and in the back was the furnace. It was massive with a line of runes keeping the heat from going too far from it. Zane stuck his head inside it and gasped. IT was powered by a blue star. Then the 'star' turned to look at him. "Finally! Someone got the key. Seeing as your face isn't melting off, you can take the heat." The 'star' had a female voice and hazy features. "Welcome to what was my forge. I was previous owner, but something went wrong when I installed this furnace. It was meant to capture a star and is it as a heat source." The 'star' scratched her chin with fiery arm.

"Must have confused me with a ball of gas. My name is Solaris so that could have been it. Long story short, I'm now a living blue star that isn't going out or weakening." She offers a hand that Zane shaking barehanded. "Impressive immunity to fire. I cracked the heat to quite a bit, yet you didn't burn." Solaris said. "You pass." She gives a thumbs up.

Zane backs his head out of the furnace. "Your next test is to forge me a knife in six hours." She ordered. Zane wasn't fooled. "What kind of knife and where is the stuff to make it with?" Zane asked making her smile. "Well spotted. The last one I tried to train, before the whole becoming a star thing, was so clueless I had to let him go. Make me a hunter's knife using carbon steel from the supply room to the right." She says as a door appears on the right wall.

Zane enters to find it was overstocked with anything he'd need. Grabbing what he needed he returned to the main room and started to work.

Six hours later

"You passed every test. You corrected me every time I messed with the heat. You added all the features it needed without compromising its ease of carrying factor. Using a leather wrapped handle is a little old fashioned but it works just fine." Solaris said proudly. Zane looked just as proud. "Place it in the armory to the left." Solaris said as the door appeared on the left wall.

Zane marveled it at the large room. Weapons were on ranks, on shelves, on hooks, and in bins. Zane walked to a shelf and placed the knife in a simple leather sheath on it. He noted a that the room wasn't very full. So, he asked her when he got back the main room. "I sell weapons. It sometimes fills up when it's dry spell but that hardly happens. With you having the key I can get more sales made." Solaris said with a 'shrug'.

"The next thing you are going to say is 'You need to fill the orders now.'" Zane said using Joseph Joestar's trick. "You need to fill- Hey! That's not funny." Solaris said annoyed as the trap door to the record room appeared in the floor. "I found it amusing." Zane laughed and jumped into the records room.

A few hours later

Star Forge

"I organized the mess you left down there. Just used magic to pull the next order sheet to you!" Zane accused Solaris. "It was easier than what you did. I just pulled the next order, did it and sent the product out for delivery. No fuss or any paper system to maintain. How did you organize that paper pit so fast?" She asked amazed. "Compared to the paperwork I deal with, this was easy. There aren't employee details to juggle along with the supply and order papers." Zane said before diving back into the records room.

"What are you doing now?" Solaris yelled down to him. "Finding where to ship the orders we currently have ready." He yells back with an echo to his voice. Moments later be starts yelling. "What brain-dead moron orders a battle-ready sword made of gold? Imperial gold is one thing but normal gold?" This was followed by a lot of choice words in languages other than English. "I see he found the reject pile." Solaris says to herself. "People always requested 'fancy' Battle-ready weapons in ways that are impossible to be battle-ready. Most of the time it was snooty nobles or morons who did little to no research.

A few days later

Mystery World

Zane was driving his moped along a road the wound its way through a dark forest. Aqua told him to go for a relaxing ride after she found him fuming over the ridiculous weapon orders. He spotted a van up ahead at the side of the road. It was green and blue with flowers? It can't them. What are the chances he'd run into them again? The back doors open as smoke pours out. "Fred, I think the Mystery Machine has broken down." A skinny guy with brown hair and a stubbly chin said from the smoke cloud. Zane could barely make out the color of his clothes. A green shirt, maroon bell bottom pants and black shoes.

Zane was proven wrong when a brown Great Dane with a green collar jumped out of the van. Said dog sniffed the wind as it blows Zane's scent down wind and said in almost English. "Rhaggy! Rane is coming!" the human looked at the dog and asked "What's that Scoob? 'Rane'? I don't see any clouds." He points at the star filled sky. "Not Rain! Rane!" the dog plays air guitar as a hint. The guy gets the dogs meaning. "Scooby, you mean Zane is coming? The Rockstar biker dude with that crazy fast moped?" He said scared.

Scooby nods and points as Zane rolls to a stop about ten feet from them. "Hello Shaggy, Scooby Doo. Last I saw you was when you were teaching at the Grimwood School. You haven't changed much in the three or four years since then." Zane greeted. Scooby threw himself to the ground, begging for mercy howling in despair. "Shaggy, Scooby, what's going on back there?" A short female with auburn hair and a freckled face asked as she adjusted her glasses. She was wearing a red skirt, orange turtleneck, orange socks, and mary jane shoes. "Jinkies! I didn't know anyone else used this road?" She looked at Scooby then asks, "Why is he doing that?"

Nervously, Shaggy explained. "You see when I did that job as a Gym Teacher, Zane here stopped by to acquire an antique that Miss Grimwood had purchased a while back. The negotiations took a few months and Scooby might have stolen his lunch a few times." Zane corrected with a flat look. "try 43 times that dog stole my food in that time period. I'm not angry, just annoyed with him." Scooby hugged Zane's legs, as he got off his moped, thanking for his mercy. "You stop now." Zane tells Scooby, who backs off to hide behind Shaggy.

"Velma Dinkley." She introduces herself. "Zane Laskaris." Zane says taking off his helmet. "CEO and Founder of Rebirth Ice Cream. Owner of the largest collection of antiques and a master blacksmith. It's an honor to meet you." Velma said in an amazed but polite voice. "Did you say Laskaris?" A red headed female said as she ran up to Zane with a blonde hair guy, wiping his oil stain hands on a cloth, followed her. "As in Sakura Silk clothing line, Laskaris?" She asked "Daphne Blake." She greeted. "This is Fred Jones." Daphne said indicating the guy with her.

"I see you are a fan of my daughter's clothing line. She was so proud when she told me she wanted to start it on her on terms. I'm not spilling any secrets, so don't ask." Zane said chuckling. "Like wow. I had no idea he was that popular." Shaggy said impressed. "It'd be great if he knows how to fix a van. The Mystery Machine is hotter than a bonfire right now." Fred said. "It's a VW, right?" Zane asked. "Yeah. Can you fix it?" Fred asked. "We'll see. You guys keep an eye out for passing cars." Zane says as he walks around the van.

An hour later

Zane grinned as the van stated to purr. "This is just a patch job until I can get some replacement parts. Some of the belts are worn thin." Zane tells Fred. Zane's hands were caked in oil. "Good thing you were driving by." Velma said then asked, "why were you out here this late at night?" She was suspense of him. "I took over for a blacksmith who can't do anymore work. Problem is that her orders with a mess. That was an easy fix but was the rejected orders that may have drove me past the boiling point. My wife said I needed to cool off. For me, it's a nice drive in the middle of nowhere. And here we are now." Zane said.

"I can imagine. If it's anything like fashion, then there are some ideas that should never see the light of day." Daphne said with a nod. "Like is it true you made the worse stink bomb ever to exist?" Shaggy asked remembering a rumor he heard somewhere. Zane laughed so hard he was crying. "That was fun to do. It was strong enough to give a moon an atmosphere for a few earth days. It reeked but it was no longer without air for a short time." Zane's explanation was as interesting as it was disgusting.

As Zane tried to drive back down the road, he hit a 'wall'. "This is odd. Did you see anything odd on your way here?" He asked testing the 'wall'. It only appeared when he intended to leave the dark forest. "There was this stone sign thing that Velma couldn't translate." Fred said passing Zane a photo that took of it. The picture showed a stone slab that looked like an old road sign. On it was script that Zane knew quite well.

"You pick interesting shortcuts. This is a warning that states 'cowards who flee can not leave. Only the victory may claim the prize at the center of the wooded grove'" Zane translated the Fae script on the slab. "what script is that? I could find any common root languages that remotely match it." Velma asked. "It's not human. It's Fae runes and we are in a Fae trap. What do you know about this forest?" Zane said breathing through his nose.

"The Black Forest of No Return, was discovered in the 1830s. It's the sight of the most disappearances in the Midwest of the USA that happened near one location. We came here to figure out what was really going on." Velma says showing Zane a book on the most mysterious sights in the Midwest. "Did any of the missing people come out?" Zane asked. She flips to the right page. "Yes, but the weird thing is that they were missing for weeks and they claim to have been gone for years. By Fae trap you mean fairies, right?" Velma asked not believing him completely.

"That and much more. For example, that Jackalope hopping by is real." Zane points to the antlered hare looking at them before darting out of view. "Would you look at that Scoob, they are real. The gang didn't believe us before but here's proof." Shaggy says amused. "Reah, a Rackalope." Scooby snickers.

"This is just like Moonscar Island, isn't it?" Daphne asked with dread. "No there likely won't be cat creatures that drain people's lifeforce to live." Zane said noting that their vehicles vanished. "I guess rides are for cowards to the rules of this place." Fred said before anyone could panic. "And we are being given things to aid us." Zane said as weapons and tools appeared in their hands. Zane got a spear. Fred got a sack of trapping supplies and a dagger. Daphne got a Bo staff. Velma got backpack of none combat stuff with a lantern in her hand. Scooby had saddle bags on his back. And finally, Shaggy had a sword and shield.

"Zoinks! It's like we're a group of adventurers." Shaggy said as the inspected their new tools. Zane spots a note on a tree in Fae scripted "'The game has begun, and goal lies in the center. Play by the rules and freedom is yours. No outside tools and no cheating. -GM'. GM means Game Master in this case." Zane said. "So, we play the 'game' and go home safe and sound? This Fae trap is like a game of DnD. It fits the lore of the Fae and explains why the missing people said they were gone for years. They took longer to complete the 'game'." Velma explained searching her bag.

She found a book on the things they might face, a map that was vague for now, jars and bottles of different sizes and kinds, and a walking stick that longer than the bag looked. "Magic breaks physics so much." She comments with a sigh. "You're the path finder and Scooby is the 'beast of burden', Velma. Fred is the trapper and everyone else are the fighters." Zane says as Velma and Scooby are in the middle of group with Zane taking the lead, Fred near him to set or disarm traps, and Daphne and Shaggy at the sides.

A week in the forest dimension later

"So, what have we learned?" Zane asked, killing the last dog sized roach. "Fetch quests are long but rewarding?" Fred says. "Roaches are nastier the bigger they look?" Daphne adds. "side quests aren't just for padding?" Velma says as she grabs the bottle of wine from a tree the roaches were protecting. "Yes, to all that but you missed one. Escort missions are annoying if said client insults the bugs that we were trying to cut a deal with." Zane said pointedly at Talking human sized weasel wearing clothes wealthy of a noble. "They are roaches, foul things." It had a posh male voice. "Now hand over the bottle and you can have the ratty old thing. I only took it because that brat refused to tell me where she him my wine bottle." The weasel sniffed with contempt. He threw a pixie doll to the ground and pompously walked away with his Wine.

To understand what happened we need to look back a week ago. The adventures had been stopped not far from the starting point by human sized porcupine wearing beggar cloths. He requested their aid for his granddaughter's doll was stolen. It turned out that the fiend who stole it was blaming her for a crime some other human sized talking animal did. After a lot of running around and dealing with critters when gave the item the real thief wanted, a new door. His old one was broken by a weasel.

The weasel demand to go with them, leading to the roaches to attack them. "Let's make that little porcupine girl happy." Zane says as start the long walk back.

Five hours (Forest time) later

"Thank you, kind adventurers. All I can offer is this jar of honey as thanks." The elderly porcupine says as his granddaughter hugged the doll. "Not a problem sir. We couldn't just let the thief do what they want." Zane says kindly passing the jar of honey to Velma to carry. "Sir do you know anything about the treasure at the center of the forest?" Velma asked. "It's said to be in this black as night stone castle with is black and white beast blocking the gate." The granddaughter said animatedly. Her grandfather looks sternly at her. "I told not to go near there. The deepest part of the woods is dangerous."

"I know that, but I was following this glowing butterfly. It was this golden blue color with squiggles on it's wings, so pretty." She said dreamily.

A few days Forest time) later

They had reached the deep part of the forest and were greeted by another stone slab. "'Follow not the paths of stone, wood and dirt. Only the glittering path is the true one.'" Zane translates. As they enter, the trees became an ever-twisting maze. That was road marks made of stone or wood. There were well traveled paths, but something was off.

"Guys, I think I know what the warning was about." Daphne said. "Zoinks! Where the 'glittering path'? With that we'll be lost for years." Shaggy says panicking. Scooby sniffs the air then says 'Rutterflies! This ray!" He travels into the darkness prices only by Velma's lantern light. "Jinkes! It's the glittering path." Velma says points to gold and blue butterflies glowing in the dark woods.

"Follow those butterflies!" Fred says. The butterflies lead them on a meandering path.

Ten minutes (forest time) later

The center of the forest

"What did they feed this beast?" Fred yelled as he dodged claws of the bus sized Honey Badger. "Velma! What do they eat?" Daphne yelled. Velma flipped through the book. "The monstrous gate guardian eats mainly berries, roots, and almost anything it can get it's claws on." She read. "That's helpful!" Shaggy says as he's thrown into a tree after he tried to block a strike. "Listen to this 'although it is tough it has one weakness. It has a sweet tooth bigger than its size'"

Fred makes a trap to slow the beast down. The beast gets snagged and tears the net trapping it to ribbons as Zane throws the jar of honey into its open mouth. It stops, licking the pot inside its mouth. "Let's sneak in." Fred says as they spill past the beast that was distracted by the honey.

Inside the Black Forest Castle

"well done. You took the hardest but fastest path here." A grinning everchanging Fae said clapping. "Puck was wise to send that crazy weapon idea. He got the queen's favorite human to enter my forest and play my game." Zane said out loud "I'm going to punch Puck the next moment I see him." The Fae's features kept on shifting save for the grin on it's face. "You were amusing to play with. You knew that NPC animals weren't real, but you treated them like they were. Saved you years of time, because talked to them, helped them, and protected them."

"Not to sound rude but what can call you?" Fred asked. The Fae said "You may call me Game Master of the Black Forest. It's my title but my name is a secret. Now the treasure for some wonderful players." The Fae says. "For you, Mystery Inc, I will give you tools for your van and some books you might enjoy. For the Queen's favored human, well you deserve a special prize. This toy I got off some alien that looked like a glowing person, will do nicely. I think they called it a 'Naljian Destructor'." GM said giving Zane a toaster sized cube made of black metal casing and a glowing green cube square core under the casing. "Thanks for dropping by." GM says teleporting them out of the forest.

Outside the forest

A few days later

"Only a day passed." Zane said reading the local paper. "Oh, they're already calling us the latest crazies to escape the forest." Zane passes the paper to the gang before doing a better repair job on the Mystery Machine. "It's not the worst thing we've been called." Velma said. "It's a good thing we only told them we 'lost' for a week and got attack by a giant badger. Otherwise they might have done more than lock us up overnight."

"It was a fun adventure, but I've got places to be. Nice meeting you." Zane says driving out of town.

A few days later

The Garden

Zane's magic workshop

Zane was just finishing turning the horn into a drinking horn. He attached the leather stripe to hold the horn to his belt and it was finished. "Please come over here." He said to the White Mushroom that was helping him test the effects of the drinking horn. The heartless drinks from the horn and glowed slightly. "Do you feel healthier?" Zane asked and the mushroom nodded gleefully. The drinking horn added a healing effect to any liquid stored in it.

"Thank you for helping me." Zane said as the White Mushroom teleported away happily. Zane looked to the fur cloak on a wooden dummy. It was one of the more fun but tricky tools he made. After tricking someone (or some group) the cloak would let Zane very hard to track down in random ways. False trails, the trail vanishing, and hiding in plaining sight were just some of the ways Zane had observed during testing. It only worked after a prank was pulled off and he had someone chasing him because of the prank, odd rules but Zane could work with it.

With a grin, Zane knew who he'd use it on next.

A week later

Inside of the Fairy Tail book world aka Earthland (After the final battle of the manga happened)

Kingdom of Fiore

Fairy Tail Guild

"Get back here Zane!" A flaming mage yelled as his normally Salum colored hair was neon pink. Natsu was so easy to rifle up. He shashed in the faces of the singing decoys as Zane escaped his senses. "Natsu! You forgot your scarf!" Happy, a talking flying blue cat creature called an Exceed, said holding a scaly white scarf as he flew to his friend. "Give it up. You will never catch me!" Four decoys sung in the style of a barber quartet. "Never!" Natsu says blasting them and continuing the chase."

"Flame brain will never learn." A half-naked guy with black hair said laughing. "Juvia agrees with Gray-sama" A blue haired rain woman (They can turn into water) said in third person hugging Gray's arm blushing. "He'll have an even harder time now. Zane's scent is missing after the did the prank, then all the decoys appeared." A black hair guy with metal piercings for his eyebrows, Gajeel, said amused and mystified. "Did he always have a second soul in his body?" A black hair man with magic eyes said lifting the magic blocking vizor he was wearing. "I can track his real soul with the decoys having the same feel as his. But for a moment I saw this other soul in him." Bickslow's, that's his name, dolls (they look like golf ball sized segments of a totem pole) floated around him chanting "scary soul!"

A diminutive old balding man with a white facial hair, Makarov, just chugged his tall glass of beer. "I've talked to him about it already. There's nothing to worry about children." He said waving the issue. "Master, with all due respect, shouldn't we ask him about it?" A red headed woman wearing armor asked. Makarov, the current Guild master of Fairy Tail, just shrugged saying "Go right ahead Erza. It was like pulling teeth when I got him to talk a decade ago. I had to make a deal with him to get the facts. Like everyone here, he's had a hard past. By the way, it's that cloak of his behind the trail being hard to track. Must be some magic tool he found or made."

"I see. I will ask him when he gets back." Erza said understanding. "You could ask me now you know?" Zane said jumping out of the fireplace. "What? how? When?" Bickslow asked confused at a loss for words. "In order: Teleported via the hearth. A blessing from Hestia. And just now from about 50 miles away." Zane answered amused. "Coyote's Shadow field test was a success." He says to himself writing things he noticed.

"What is that cloak made of?" A short female with her blue hair in a hair band, Levy, asked searching through books about animals. "The pelt of a Trickster spirit. He's an ass but somewhat amusing when you aren't the target of his pranks." Zane said. "How is he still around if you skinned him?" Levy asked before turning to the busty blonde celestial spirt mage, Lucy, for answers. "I think he skin it alive." Lucy said angry. "Before you yell at me, he had it coming. On top of that, Coyote has survived worse things an someone flawlessly skinning him alive. I even healed him enough to restore his skin." Zane cut in rolling his eyes.

"What did he do to deserve that?" Lucy demanded. "He strung me along to see me suffer just for a laugh. Coyote is not a 'good' spirit nor is he 'evil'. Coyote does what he wants when he wants with not a care for those he screws with." Zane said stating the facts. Coyote didn't have 'human' mentality because he was a spirit and always was one. Lucy still angry asked "How do you know that?"

"I heard from his past victims. Yes, he's done some helpful things but only because it was interesting to him or just happened to happen that way. Trust me, I know not to judge anyone without getting to know who they are." Zane said. As if on que a digigate opened letting a Devimon through. Kneeling, he said, "Wrath Lord Zane. There was a minor brawl that escalated a lot. No one was deleted but there was a lot property damage in the west sector." The Devimon reported.

"Why are you coming to me? Protocol says that General Lilith handles cases like this." Zane said pinching his nose annoyed. "Something was uncovered during clean up." Devimon placed a warded box before Zane before departing via the digigate, that closes behind him. "Lovely. A cursed object to deal with." Zane said opening the warded box and a blast of malice emanated from thing inside it, setting everyone on edge.

"Mass-produced cursed ring that turns the wearer into rampaging monster. Lovely, Mt Doom Protocol it is." Zane says closing the box and throwing it into a portal to a white star, were it burns to nothingness. "That is the hundredth ring like that I've found. Someone but had been fixated on that curse to make so many of them." Zane said to himself.

"What just happened?" Lucy asked. "Who was that devil looking dude and why do you have a portal to destroy cursed rings?" Zane looked at her like she said something weird. "Why wouldn't I have a portal to a star to destroy cursed things? It's dead useful." Then he glared. "That 'Devil looking dude' is one of my subjects and stereotyping him like that is rude." She backed down.

"I finally found you, Zane!" Natsu gasped as he kicked open the doors of the guild. "That's enough Natsu. You burned the dye out of your hair so there's no reason to go after him." Makarov said that looked at Zane. "Please don't bring cursed things to the guild, if you can. It's a pain to file the report to the Magic Council." He then laughs saying, "But you know how bad paperwork is. You the mayor of some town or something?"

"King of a kingdom, leader of an army, CEO of a company, and the Hearth leader of the Children of the Hearth. I deal with more paperwork and troublemakers than you have, old man." Zane said. "At least I got retirement plans ready, unlike you who will be buried with the unfinished stacks decades from now!" Makarov shots back annoyed at his age-related comment. "HA! The only time old age with get me will be when I'm 10,000 years old at least!" Zane says spark an argument of who's got better feats.

"I haven't seen the master act like this so passionately before." Erza says as the guild spectate. "DO you think he's telling the truth about his life expectancy?" Natsu asks. A green haired man with a sword at his hip, Freed, said "They cannot lie in the rune trap I placed before the argument started." He points to the runic walls that were barely visible trapping the two men inside it. "'No lie can be spoken in that space' is the rule in place." Freed explained as he sat at the same table as Biskslow. "What started the 'who's better' contest?" He asked Biskslow. "Paperwork!" His dolls say giggling. "Basically, Zane was told his subjects did a bar brawl Fairy Tail style and a cursed ring was found as a result. It was delivered to him and he destroyed it with a portal to a star. Master started it with a pointed comment and here we are." Biskslow filled him in.

"Maybe we'll get to hear about the person is such a mystery." Freed says as the other two members of their team seat themselves. A light brown-haired woman wearing glasses and a green dress, Evergreen, and their leader and grandson of the guild master, a man with blonde slicked back spiky hair with lightning bolt scar on his right eye, Laxus. "So that's the infamous Zane Laskaris, the Ghost of Fairy Tail. He joins us and somehow is S rank without most of us ever seeing his face. He's hardly ever here." Evergreen comments.

"He is not someone you fight with fire or runes. It will only end in defeat if that is all you got." Laxus says. "I'd say he stronger than Natsu if you factor in that 'daemon takeover form' he showed me once." The men in the 'truth trap' started a drinking contest before they said anything too sensitive. "There goes that plan. All we got was how destructive Zane's subjects have been at their worst. I don't it was a takeover form." Biskslow said using his magic eyes to read Zane's soul. "It's more like this 'Daemon' is connected to his soul by 'chains'. Metaphysical ones binding both parties." Biskslow tried to explain want he was seeing.

"Like a contract? That makes sense." Freed said thoughtfully. "The 'chains' are a binding agreement, and very powerful one. What has the master told you about Zane." Freed asked Laxus. "That he's powerful and has a lot of duties to deal with. That's why he's only ever here for a day or two at best." Laxus explained.

Zane beat Makarov at drinking and laughed as the short man sighed. "you and your liver of steel. Have you dealt with that problem of yours?" He asked Zane cryptically. "The agreement was completed even if he's stuck where he is because how hasty we were back then." Zane said just as vaguely. "Good. You and your roommate getting along?" Zane nodded at his question. "Would you be willing to stay longer than normal? They are your guildmates after all." Makarov grinned as Zane let the guild mark on his palm to be visible. "I've got time." Zane conceded.

"Fight me!" Natsu yells charging up a fire dragon slayer spell, Fire Dragon's iron fist, as his fist glowed with fire. "Not right now Natsu." Zane calmly says grabbing the burning fist bare handed and throwing Natsu out the front doors with ease. "That makes the score 257- 0 in your favor. Cana, an attractive female with long black hair who was chugging from a keg of beer, said amused. "He still thinks he can overpower your temperature resistance. How hot and cold can you handle?" She asked as the guild take interest.

"It takes some extreme cold to keep me frozen and no flame will feel hotter than a nice dip in a hot spring. Did you know that a volcano erupting when you're having a calming soak in it is quite annoying?" Zane says as they question how he figured that out. "Why would you dive into a magma pool of an active volcano?" Lucy asked as Zane remind her of some of things Natsu did. "Well, the area was hot as the sun and I was fine, so it was a logical next step to test my limits. Don't recommend magma pool hot springs for you very flammable humans." Zane said seriously.

"That is manly!" A tanned muscular man with hair said proudly as his sister, Lisanna, who had short white hair, said "Elfman, that is crazy not manly. Mira you agree with me, right?" She asks her other sibling, the eldest of the Takeover Siblings (They all use takeover magic). Mirajane, worked behind the bar at the guild and was a modal in magazines because of her stunning looks. "For Zane, it was perfectly fine. Know your limits and what limits can be pushed past. Zane, what would you like to eat?" Mira said.

"surprise me." Zane says. Natsu got back to the guild and was annoyed. "Zane you didn't have to throw me that hard." He whined. Natsu, Gajeel, and blue twin pigtailed girl, her name is Wendy, froze when they smelled something familiar. "Do you smell a dragon?" Wendy asked sniffing the air. "Yeah! It's coming from Zane's jacket." Natsu says as he was the closest to Zane. "The only reason I would smell of dragon is. Aria! I told you to stay home with Sakura." Zane scolded the young mist dragon as she reformed from the mist form she used to hide in Zane's jacket.

The female of the guild coo at how cute Aria was. "Yep, that's a dragon. A shrimp of a dragon if you ask me." Natsu says before using a breath attack that looked like a stream of boiling mist. Natsu was rolling around on the ground clutching his face in pain. "Poor Aria still has a lot of growing to do." Levy says making Aria preen with happy chirp. "This Aria the Mist Dragon I was given as an egg. I suggest that you get that burn looked at asap." Zane says.

"How did Natsu get burned?" Happy said have finally caught of with Natsu, still holding the scarf. "It's simple. At extreme temperatures water can boil your skin on contact. It's not fire-based so Natsu's magic didn't protect him as good." Carla, a white Exceed, explained as Wendy with sky dragon slayer magic to heal Natsu's burns. "Juvia wonders what a Mist Dragon is." Aria flew over to Juvia and started show off her ability to turn into mist then whistled in a questioning way. "She wants you to shoe her your magic. As a rain woman you are akin to Mist Dragons." Zane says. Juvia shows some tricks as Aria happily asks for more is chirps, whistles and squeaks.

"Here you go, Zane. Pork chops with mash potatoes and greens." Mira says sets a plate in front of Zane with a smile. "Well this must mean you are challenging me. It wouldn't be fair to have just one judge." Zane says pulling out Phil's summoning jewel. "Come forth Mimic of carrying!" He chants catching Lucy's attention. In a flash Phil appeared. "Master Zane! What can this humble luggage do for you?" He sung then sniffed. "Is that the lovely aroma of pork chops I smell? Please tell me you have some for me Master!" Phil sung with a pleading undertone.

"I have some extra if you want some." Mira says sweetly. "You my dear bar tender know the way to this luggage's heart. I would love to try some of your cooking." Mira giggled at his words. In a minute she had a plate of just chops for Phil, whose tongue snaked its way and reeled in the food. "It is lovely but sadly Master Zane's pork chops are better. Worry not, one day he may let you have the now secret version of the Laskaris Pork Chop Special." Phil sung apologetically.

"He summoned a singing pork chops loving box. Spirits are weird." Natsu said with a red but healed face. "Spirits don't like being called weird Natsu!" Lucy says. "Open Gate of the Southern Cross!" She says using a silver key to summon one her non zodiac spirits. That was 'ding dong' sound as a spirit that looked like a spindly old man with a grey cross for a head appeared.

"Grandpa Crux what can you tell me about a summon called Phil." Lucy asked the spirit. Crux looked at her wide awake. "I'd do that, but I need permission from the Hearth Leader." Crux looks at Zane and asked, "May I Hearth Leader Zane?" Zane waves his hand in agreement as he prepares to eat. "You can tell them the other stuff they want to know as long as it's not too sensitive. Now this chop is calling my name." Zane says before chewing down.

Seeming to fall asleep, Crux scanned for information. He 'woke up' saying "Phil is the living luggage that can sing. Has ties with the Children of the Hearth for quite some time it is unknown how he was created or when it happened because he is over a millennium old." Not satisfied with the information she asked. "What can you tell me about Zane Laskaris?" Crus 'sleeps' for ten minutes. "Zane Laskaris, age and birthplace unknown. Titles include: Lord of the Skies, Bird of the Hearth, Hearth Leader, Wrath Lord, Keyblade Master, Fairy Queen's favored Mortal, Monk of Wrath and Grief, and the Clairvoyant Truth Seeker. He's married with wife and adopted human child. That is all I can tell at this time." He says.

"Thanks Grandpa Crux." Lucy says closing his gate. "If you want to understand what you heard you will have to ask the source, aka me." Zane says as he finishes his food. "What are the Children of Hearth and why is your permission required to get Crux to talk about it?" Lucy asked, her mind racing. "Read this. It'll give you some of the information you have privy to." He hands them a book with hand done illustrations that looked to have taken years to finish.

They crowded around Levy, who was the only one that knew that language it written in. "This dialect is rarely ever used today, but I think I can translate it. 'In the time when the Greek ruled and gods were among us, there was a farm.' Most of this is describing the era, the empire, the lifestyle and the gods they worship so I will be skipping it." Levy explains careful reading each page. "Here we are. 'Barak Laskaris noted trouble when that season's crops failed. Soon after animals were less active.' That is worrying." Levy pauses. "I still don't see where this is going?" Natsu says. "I'm getting there. 'after a year of hard times, his wife and children fell ill. With hesitance, Barak was forced to ask the gods for a miracle.'" Levy says condensing the epic to an understandable level. "They grimaced; the story was taking a dark turn. "Let's see. A lot of no shows or refusal to help from most of the gods. AH! The last ditch attempts. 'offering the last of his crops that he used to keep his family alive, he finally got help.'" She gasps reading the next part.

"what happened?" Gajeel asked. "Who would make a deal like that? Basically, the bad crops and illness was caused by Eris, the goddess of discord and misfortune, on a whim. Hestia, the goddess of the Hearth granted a miracle but at a steep price. 'For saving his family's life and happiness, they would serve her for all eternity as her most trusted keepers. No matter how many generations that pass every being that bares the blood or name Laskaris will be known as a child of the Hearth. The Children of the Hearth guard her treasures and carry out her will. Should she ask it, they will search for anything no matter what it is.'" Levy finished closing the book.

"That's basically slavery!" Erza said outraged. "It's not that bad. I mean, she did change a curse placed on my family by a goddess. The price was equal to the miracle that was granted." Zane said calmly as he took the book back. "My family will live full happy lives forever. That doesn't come cheap. Eris' curse is the scores of the rather chaotic luck we Laskaris have. In other words, endless entertainment."

They were taken aback by his response. "Shouldn't you break the curse?" Erza pressed. "Can't. it's a part of the deal made on the Styx. You don't break oaths like that." Zane said. "We changed our fate from dying out because chaos goddess wanted to see someone suffer, to surviving and thriving a chaotic life." Makarov spoke up, "From what he told me, Hestia is among the nicest goddesses. In fact, so many wonderful things happened to him because of the curse. Prime example, his wife and daughter. Not bad for a deal made almost 33,000 years ago."

"33,000 years? That's 1,100 generations affected and counting!" Levy said shocked. "Your missing something important. Every one of them has or had at least two lives. Their normal lives that they can use with how ever they like. And the life that is related to the Children of the Hearth. Members of the Laskaris clan join when they are at least 16 years old, with some special cases that are younger." Zane explains. "We have ranks, that I will not be telling you. Higher rank you are more dangerous missions are available to you and more information can be learned."

"Like how the Guild Master knows things that the S rank Mages wouldn't know." Laxus says getting it. "As Hearth Leader, you know all the skeletons in the closet." Zane sighed at that comment. "Yes, we aren't squeaky clean and I myself have blood stained hands. Makarov made be promise not to kill when acting as a fairy tail mage." Zane admitted. "You're a solider, can't for too long before you are forces to end someone." Panther Lily, black exceed with a scar next to his eye and a magic sword on his back, said understanding Zane. "With experience comes understanding, from that stems the seeds that grow into the plant that shall bloom the flower of enlightenment if nourished right." Panther Lily said.

"What is Panther Lily talking about?" Natsu asked Lucy. "One of Zane's titles, Monk of Wraith and Grief." She says after a light bulb moment. "That title in rather new but well earned. I'm turning for the day. I'll answer more questions tomorrow." Zane says leaving the guild. "What hell did he go through?" Erza asked herself outloud. "My guess is loss of family because of war." Panther Lily guessed.

The next day

The Fairy Tail guild

"Did I just see a blue and yellow mushroom creature waving a sign that says, 'Make me fly and I will pay by airtime'?" Lucy asked as she entered the guild hall. "The little dude has been there all morning. He pays per a second of airtime. No idea what he even is?" Mira says as she cleans the bar. "Really? Are there any rules?" Lucy asked. "only one try per a person per an encounter. You must bop him into the air with non-elemental strikes. And when he touches the ground the try is over, and you get paid." She lists.

"That's a little dangerous, isn't it?" Lucy asks as she hears trees being felled. "Looks likes like Dad is here." Cana says as she smirks knowingly. A scruffy faced redish brown haired man wearing travelers' cloak, Gildarts, was almost at the door when he was stopped by the mushroom. The guild members watch through the open front door.

"You want to fly?" Gildarts asked as the mushroom nodded rapidly. The mushroom put his sign into the messenger bag. "Get ready." Gildarts says upper cutting the mushroom as hard as he could. The mushroom shot into the sky followed by the sonic boom that rattled the guild hall. "He won't be down for a while. Makarov will be happy." Gildarts chuckles already planning to give all the money he gets to the guild. "Great job dad. You stuck gold." Cana said to her father.

An hour later

Zane walked into the guild hall then back tracked to stare at the mushroom drifting down from the sky holding an umbrella. "Why is there a Rare Truffle floating from the sky?" Zane asked as the mushroom heartless touched down. "An hour and fifteen seconds." Cana says as the Rare Truffle pulls out a sack of Jewels (the currency of this world) that was bigger than the Heartless was tall. "Thank you." Gildarts says picking it up and giving it to the gaping guild master. "This will help Fairy Tail, Makarov." Gildarts says amused.

"I see you set up shop here too. Follow the rules and I won't have to make you go back to The Garden. Got it?" Zane says and the Rare Truffle nods before teleporting away is a puff of darkness. "You know him?" Makarov asked very interested. "another one of my subjects. His kind is called Rare Truffle. They are peace creatures that love to fly. Don't worry about hurting them." Zane answers.

"Are you aware that mushroom creatures and other kinds like him have been showing up all over the kingdoms for the past week?" Mira said handing him the sorcerer weekly magazine. He stared that the tag line on the cover, 'friendly invaders, or sleeper agents?'. "Let's see. The mushroom heartless, popcats, venders, and book master type heartless. Looks like they are doing recon to see if they can find things I'd like. The popcats are just here because they feel like it." Zane comments reading the ten-page article debunking almost all the theories it listed.

"Hang on! You have two kingdoms?" Natsu asked as everyone look at him weirdly. "What do you mean two kingdoms?" Lucy asked. "That devil dude smells like energy sort of and the mushroom dude smells like darkness but much older. Two completely different smells and they travel by different ways. So, Zane has two kingdoms." Natsu explained. "That makes a surprising amount of sense coming from you, flame brain." Gray said, as he somehow strips to his boxes in the past five minutes without knowing he was doing it.

"What did you say Ice Stripper?" Natsu says getting in Gray's face. Ezra stopped the fight by bopping them on the head with metal gantlet covered fists. "Focus on getting to know Zane, not fighting each other!" She said sternly. "Yes Ezra." They chorus in pain. "Tell us about your kingdoms." She asks Zane. He explains the bare bones. "No good deed goes unpunished!" Makarov laughs at Zane's luck. "Lucy, you collect keys, right?" Zane asks.

"Yes. You found a silver spirit key?" She confirmed. "I was fishing last night and caught this dog sized catfish. When was gutting and cleaning it, I found this key in its stomach and knew you'd be interested in it." Zane said fishing a gold key out. "Aquarius' key!" Lucy said flabbergasted. "Here." He tosses it to her. With tears of happiness she says, "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" she used a glass of water as the water source that is required.

Aquarius was a mermaid with long straight blue hair, a blue fish tail, and was wearing a blue bikini top and some jewelry. She was carrying a blue urn. "What did I tell you about summoning me using a glass of water!" she yells at Lucy, who just hugs her crying tears of joy. "I missed you Aquarius." Lucy hiccupped. "You get off with a warning this time." The spirit said returning the hug. The happy moment was stopped when Aquarius turned to Zane. "The Celestial Spirit King would like a word with you. Scorpio if you would." Zane was grabbed by Scorpio, another of the zodiac spirits. He had tanned skin, half white, half red hair, and a sand blasting mechanical tail. "We are, on it." He says as opening his own gate then closing it with Zane along for the ride.

"Aquarius? What's going on?" Lucy asked confused. "There is a darkness attacking the Celestial Spirit World. He didn't create It, but It's been hunting him for the past decade. It followed him to Earthland and found the Celestial Spirit World yesterday and has been troublesome to deal with." She said shocking everyone but Makarov. "So, the Anti-Zane has resurfaced at last. After gorging itself on the denizens of darkness for a decade, it feels it's strong enough to destroy the original." Makarov said solemnly.

Aquarius looks at the guild master with narrowed eyes. "How do you know this?" She demanded. The guild master sighed "Zane told me everything. Anti-Zane is a creature created by the Realm of Darkness, using the worst parts of the Zane of that time, to break his will and take his heart to create a heartless of unparalleled might. But plans change, it became rebellious and wishes to take Zane's power for itself. It cannibalizes it's kin to gain power and if it devours Zane, well let's hope that doesn't happening." Makarov's assessment was bone chilling.

"We need to help him." Erza said staring the spirit down. "No can do. You'd just be a snack to that 'beast'. Besides, you couldn't even stub its toe without a keyblade at this point. Luckily Zane had that weapon and knows how to use it." Aquarius said much to their dismay. "You are going to let him fight alone? Please let us help!" Lucy said shocked. "I never said he was alone. He's got allies that are closely connected to him." The spirit corrected.

Celestial Spirit World (one day there is three months in Earthland)

The Celestail Spirit World looked like planets covered into crystalline structures and a sea of stars for the sky. Zane stared at the bubble that Celestial Spirit King showed him. Inside it was a pocket dimension temporarily holding the writhing mass of limbs and heads that was Anti-Zane. Zane looked at the mustached armored giant of the spirit who was taller than any of the Royal Knights were and said, "How long can you hold the bubble?" With a grim look, the king said, "Old Friend (he calls everyone that unless he dislikes them), you have an hour at best before that shadow breaks free and swallows all worlds. Are you ready to silence it?" Zane nodded as an old face showed up, Junk Dealer. "Is it ready, Junk Dealer?" Zane asked. Junk Dealer, with its eye brimming with pride, socketed itself into a massive gummi ship super weapon. The Dawn of Fire was a super-sized gummi ship, made with all the parts from his other gummiship the Endbringer and then some, with such a complex system to it that it required Junk Dealer's many tendrils to fly properly without exploding. Its weapon system required multitasking only a Digimon like Daemon could handle. There was no radar, so Last Train Home's Eyes in the Sky was perfect.

All in all, Dawn of Fire was one of Zane's craziest ideas for a gummi ship. The whole thing was one overheat away from total cataphatic failure resulting in a big kaboom. For that very reason this would be the first and only time it's be used. "I'll use my keyblade to change the energy of the weapons to be able to slay it. This will, for sure, be too much for the Dawn of Fire to handle but Anti-Zane is too powerful to take any chances. Wish me luck." Zane says jumping to the gummiship. Inside the core chamber of the ship, He drove his keyblade into the slot that was on the power source of the weapon system.

Zane then put on a headband that let him control the ship mentally. "Daemon, you ready?" Zane asked. "Systems are charge ready. We've got one shot at this." Daemon said as they entered the bubble. "Strike true, Old Friend." The Spirit King said.

Inside of the pocket dimension

(Play Fairy Tail ost Stand Fairy Tail to set the mood)

Anti-Zane's multitude of mindless voices bellowed at the sight of them. "How the charging?" Zane asked as the 'beast' shot elemental magics at them like pellets from a shotgun. "Charge at 36%" Daemon reported. "The thing isn't going to let us just sit here. Junk Dealer, evasive action!" This started a game of 'DODGE or die'.

As the percentage climbed, so did the heat levels and number of warnings that blared at them. "15 seconds to full charge. Hold on a little longer." Daemon said keeping track of all the systems as warnings drown out any voice save mental ones. Anti-Zane changed tactics and was charging at them. Zane made a quick prayer as Anti-Zane was right on them, the charging was complete, and the ship exploded the instant after firing all weapons.

For a moment as the explosion of energy and light blinded him, he saw countless people in the garb of the Children of the Hearth. They silently congratulate him. Looking back, he knew these were the past members who died, because he noticed members he knew. The first Hearth Leader, his great Grandfather, his parents, and so many others, some who died much more recently. Then the moment was gone, and he blacked out.

Anti-Zane was ripped apart and burned atom by atom by the light, screaming in agony. From its burning body, hearts drifted away in numbers too great to ever count. The pocket dimension recombined with the Celestial Spirit World as the Celestial Spirit King, with a grin, said. "Well Done Old Friend. I name you a Hero of Spirits!" He created a new constellation to cement this called, 'The Hearth Keeper'.

Across Earthland that evening everyone saw it and wondered where it came from. Fairy Tail was the first to know and told anyone who asked who it was of and what he did. This was one title that Zane earned the hard way and didn't mind. The Endbringer had been made in war but with it gone, he could move on fully. From war, came a weapon that gave birth to a cleansing fire and from that fire, peace was found.

(end track)

Two weeks later

Earthland

East Forest of Magnolia Town

Porlyusica's House

"About time you woke up." Porlyusica, a pink hair elder lady, said annoyed. He had a broom beating Junk Dealer's Tendrils back out the door. "Tell your cycloptic shadow to go somewhere else. He keeps on poking me for an update on you." Zane got up and noted he was in the house under a living tree that the hermit of a healer that helped Fairy Tail when someone got injured, lived in. "Junk Dealer. You can stop bothering her." He said causing the tendrils to stop and wrap him in a hug. "Yes, I'm happy to see you too. Go tell the rest of Fairy Tail please." The tendrils set him back down on the bed and Junk Dealer zooms off.

"Honestly, what were you thinking? I had to remove shards from you that don't look like anything I've ever seen. Here's a souvenir to remind you not to do that again!" She yells throwing a mason jar full of shards of the gummiship at his head. It bounced into his lap. "Why didn't that hurt?" He asked confused, feeling his bandaged body, noting the dried poultice under the wraps. She hits him with her broom yelling "of course it doesn't hurt! I numbed you completely to let you heal. So, lay down and rest before you kill yourself again!" She exits the house slamming the door behind her.

"Her bedside manners are still the same as the last time I was here." Zane chuckles and lays back down. The Dawn of Fire was gone, and he carried all that was left of it in a mason jar. One thing was for sure, Anti-Zane was destroyed completely and utterly. Some say to bury the hatchet, he blew said 'hatchet' in the craziest gummiship ever built and live to tell the tale. As he dozed off, he heard a beautiful female singing voice and the plucking of a harp.

Lyra, the celestial spirit of lyre, played her song on the large ornate harp he carried. Her long hair was like spun honey and she had a blue dress on with small white wings on her back. This was her gift to Zane for saving her home. The Celestial Spirit King was more than will to grant her request. She hoped this song would give him the rest he needed.

A few days later

Fairy Tail Guild Hall

"I'm fine. Porlyusica wouldn't have let me out of bed let alone here if I wasn't fully healed." Zane said laughing. "After what we saw, we have the right to be worried." Makarov stated. "I haven't seen a more suicidal plan, that didn't involve a self-sacrifice spell, like you did in a long time. There was more blood outside of your body than in it." Natsu claps Zane on the back. "That was so cool! The thing was almost on you then there was this boom! And it turned into hearts and Mustache Face named you a Hero of Spirits." Natsu said as Lucy sighed at what he called the Celestial Spirit King.

"Natsu. You need to remember names and faces better." She amused. "When you get married you can him with that." Zane piped in making her to blush, Natsu to wrap her in a one arm hug, and the other members to laugh or roll their eyes at the couple. "Flame brain will never learn." Gray says but Zane pipes in again. "I wouldn't talk Gray. You have your own problem to 'fix'. But I have the feeling that Juvia will make sure you only do it for her." Juvia nods rapidly saying, "Juvia agrees, Gray-sama will only strip for Juvia after 'fixing' Gray-sama's habit." Juvia's face got so red she passed out, falling into Gray's arms. This got a roar of laughter from the guildmates.

"Zane. What would have happened if you failed?" Wendy asked as Carla froze for good reason. After Zane had been 'kidnapped' by the spirits, she had received a vision of if he failed. The creature known as Anti-Zane turned into this unspeakable thing and then the vision ended. "A Beast of endless gluttony would have been born. I don't know what beast it would be classed as, but I know about some other Beast class beings and they are the personification of catastrophe when they get started." Zane says.

"I shudder to think how many worlds would be lost." Carla said shivering. "what even is a Beast class being?" Zane tried to explain the best he could, "They are beings that are so powerful that they can bring about the end of humanity at least. Beast II is Tiamat, the mother dragon creation goddess. She is the beast of regression. When her children (humanity) no longer needed her, she fell to despair and tried to regress the world back to zero and start over, so she can be needed longer."

"That's awful, isn't there better ways?" Wendy asked. "She's a creation goddess who was left behind by her children, Empty Nest Syndrome can really hit hard. She was stopped and is happily mothering the members of the Chaldea Security Organization." Zane said chuckling. "What's she like?" Wendy asked. "She is a good listener and loves to give and receive hugs. She is the primal mother." Zane said warmly.

Junk Dealer looked hurt as he looked through one of the windows outside but beamed when Zane said, "You give nice hugs too.". "What even is that cycloptic ball of tendrils?" Carla said as tendrils carry the guildmates orders to them. "Junk Dealer is Zane's shadow, a good one if a little mischievous." Mira said passing another order to the tendrils. "He's been helping with the cleaning and as a waiter the whole time you were recovering, Zane."

"Mira is half right. Junk Dealer is an immortal creature who goes around collecting stuff, fixing it up, and using it to solve problems it encounters. Even if it attacked me out of nowhere when I first meet it years ago, I am its creator and have some sway over its actions like a parent does with their child. In short Junk Dealer is an idea given life at time that I was feeling strong emotions. Magic and unstable emotions have a mixed bag when it comes to the results." Zane said as Junk Dealer patted his shoulders reassuringly.

"He cleans up space junk!" Natsu figures out, missing most of what Zane said. "Natsu, you missed the fact he was created from high stress and uncontrolled magic." Gajeel pointed out with a sweat drop. "Why didn't Zane say that in the first place?" Natsu says. Natsu may be powerful but some complex subject go over his head a little. "Can he fight?" Natsu asked eagerly. "He can tank almost anything save reality warping attacks but is powerless without things to attack with. Rocks, space junk, trees, people, if he can grab it, it's a tool he uses to deal with things." Zane said.

Junk Dealer passed a honey haired doll wearing a blue dress. There was tear in dress. "Gonzales! Why did he look in my apartment?" Lucy said annoyed. "How did the tear happen?" Zane asked, getting some tools out. "I think she got stuck on something and tore. But she's a doll so I don't know how she'd free herself." Lucy said. "Toys are alive, they just don't have all the guts we got. It's the love you give them that keeps them motivated to stay alive. This is an easy fix." He threaded a needle with a blue thread the same color as the dress. "Amber, my daughter's doll, comes running to me all the time when her dress rips. A little magic and some thread and it right as rain."

The doll's eyes seem to water with unshed tears. "I could give her a voice and a way to move about on her own, if you want? She is so full of life yet unable to express it." Zane said. Lucy looked conflicted. "What would the cost be? Living magic has a cost." Zane understood her question. "I'm not giving her 'life'. I am giving her the ability to move and interact of her own power. Her magic will fuel the runes I plan to use. Basic speech, moment and some other runes used in making golems." Zane takes out a spool of thread that looked like spun crystal.

The dragonslayers (Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, and laxus) could smell thread. "Is that blood?" Wendy asked recognizing the metallic smell. "Blood and magic spun together in the form of thread. I can make it into ink and other forms, but this is fitting for the job." After Lucy hands her doll over, Zane stitches countless tiny runes all over the doll. The spool didn't seem to be running out as Zane worked.

"I've never seen runes places so quickly and so tiny." Freed said amazed. Zane was chanting so softly not even the dragonslayers could pick out all the words. After Zane finished stitching runes, he chanted one last line that had the doll's name in it. The runes became visible with power then vanished, leaving the doll looking the same as before. "Gonzales try to move." Zane said placing the doll on the bar. Gonzales stood up shakily and in a just as shaky voice, she said "Thank you Zane." She tried to bow but fell forward into Lucy's hand. "Careful Gonzales. The runes let you move but it takes skill to do it well. Normally a puppeteer is controlling the golem remotely, but you'll figure it out." Zane explained.

"Care to play us a song. I don't think you've don't it for them." Makarov asked. "Sure. Give me some time to prep and Margert cleaned." Zane says walking backstage. "You kids are in for a treat. His music is so good that wild animals both pretender and prey just listen peacefully." Makarov said. "Wouldn't the prey animals get attacked?" Levy asked. "Nope. Zane's music was so good they had a truce to enjoy it." Makarov boasted.

Half an hour later

(The song he is playing is the main menu theme from Life is Strange)

From the first notes, they were enveloped in the feeling of a peaceful small town might have. The type of town that you'd find by stumbling upon it exploring the backroads. Not perfect but everyone is somewhat nice, and nature is abundant. They were so engrossed into the song, they failed to notice the frog person messenger until the song ended. "Excuse me, The Magic Council would like to talk to the Ghost of Fairy Tail." The official said.

"Did they give a reason?" Zane asked stepping off the stage. "A need to know topic and I am not high enough in the chain to know it." The Official said like he was reading off a script. "I request you come with me peacefully, we must not make them wait." Zane rolled his eyes at this. "I'll see what they want. If they try anything, I'll deal with it accordingly." He says with a laugh as he follows the frowning frog official.

15 hours later

Crocus, capital of the kingdom

Flower Light Palace: Mercurius

"Thank you for coming. The Queen would like a word with you." A knight with a squarish nose, dark hair, and sideburns that ended in a curved and pointed beard, said leading Zane down the hallways to the Throne Room. "Arcadios, are you aware of how long the meeting I just got finished with was?" Zane asked drinking a cup of strong coffee. "I'm not sure. How long was the meeting with the Magic Council?" Arcadios asked. "ten hours! They complained how the heartless were 'disrupting the peace'! How is asking people to do simple things for them and rewarding them accordingly 'disrupting the peace?" Zane ranted. "They even tried to say they were a 'danger' to the citizens! The worst they can do is kill someone with a bad heart by startling them too badly."

"That's partially why the Queen wishes to talk to you. They started appearing out of nowhere and wishes to know from the source what they are. There is something else she wants to ask you, but the walls have ears." Arcadios says as they pass a group of servants. Ah, there might be spies in the castle. That made sense. Hopefully this meeting wouldn't be as bad, some of the Magic Council members were so headstrong.

They entered the throne room; Zane saw the Queen and her father the former king. Toma E. Fiore, the former king, was a very short white-haired man with a thin mustache. Hisui E. Fiore, the Queen, was a petite woman with flowing green hair. Next her was a hunched over old man with big ears. Something about him was off. "The Ghost of Fairy Tail shows his face at last. You are a hard man to find." The old man said sternly. "I am Darton and these 'heartless' will be dealt with if they are deemed a threat." The old man was the Minister of Defense. This might not be an easy meeting after all.

"In the Abyss Palace, where we execute people, Strange things started to appear. Two kinds of stone gargoyle statues started to show up at random places and they seem to move about when no one is looking. Strange bats with hooks roosting in the cavern ceilings. They are oddly colored too, some red, some blue, and some white with blue trim on the wings. Care to explain?" Darton said tightly.

"Sounds like Possessors, Hook Bats, and Perplex Heartless have decided that blood-soaked place would make a nice home. Has anyone other than the death row visitors been attacked?" Zane asked on a hunch. Darton sighed "No the creatures only attack the to be killed that are dropped in there." Zane sighed in relief. "That means you got the oddballs of those kinds of Heartless. I'll go down there later and have a chat later." Zane reassures them.

"Thank you, Zane. You have solved a pressing issue I feared would end in blood shed." Toma said visibly relaxing. "Now for the next issue. Where were you when all the conflicts happened?" Queen Hisui asked in a sharp commanding voice. "Dealing with my own issues outside of this world. In the past decade I've been running around solving problems on different worlds. I understand you are upset I left Fairy Tail high and dry but I can't be everywhere at once." Zane stated.

"I see. You are not native to this world. How did you reach this world?" She asked. "using a 'gate' in the shape of a book. One of many such 'Gates' I and my family have kept safe for thousands of years. I think I know the heartless that set up shop. They are heartless that were too violent for my kingdom so I sent them to worlds that would need the expertise they had. These ones were rather happy to kill death row people." Zane said.

"Why this world?" She asks. "At the time, this world was in the dangerous and deadly category with all the curses and end bringing creatures running around. Now it's less deadly but still in the category because Ankhseram, the God of life and death, is still around. That being is too dangerous for any lower category." Zane flatly. "I see. You completed a hundred-year quest in Giltena (the continent north of them), yet there is very little what happened there?" Queen Hisui asked getting to the main point of the meeting.

"You want to know about that place? To start there are five 'dragon gods' who are revived there, one of them is a right pain in the ass. They all fled there to escape the dragon eater who can eat any magic, I still think that magic is HEX, at some point they got to be known as 'gods' to the people. Thrashed the Fire God Dragon, Ignia, because he was trying to prove his flames would burn me, which it failed." Zane listed. "The next problem was a guild full of Dragon eaters, who were a pain to deal with even if they were far from as powerful as that human turned dragon. There guild was disband after I was down with them."

"How did you defeat them?" Darton asked "I know of that guild by reputation only." Zane laughed. "There was this lady that was a blade Dragon Slayer, meaning I couldn't use any weapons with a sharp edge. She tried to cut me down mentally with some spell, it backfired." Intrigued they listened. "I got angry and grabed her teammate, who is an Armor Dragon slayer boasting his armor is unbreakable, using him as a club." They chuckle at the very Fairy Tail style way of solving the problem.

"The leader of the team, a bone dragon slayer, forced a retreat but I was still quite angry, so I followed them and trashed the whole guild and it's members to calm down. I was approached by this chick who called herself the White Wizard, leader of the cult of Liberius. That hag tried to steal my magic and insulted my goddess!" Zane said fuming.

"That explains your successful if out of nowhere crusade against the former cult Church of Liberius. What of the White Wizard?" Darton asked. "I sealed her soul away in jar. She gets to be in the 'white nothingness' she perched about. Serves her right!" Zane said savagely laughing. "Thank you for clearing things up. You are free to leave after checking on the 'heartless' below the palace." Queen Hisui says being thankful that Zane is not their enemy.

A few days later

Fairy Tail guild

When Zane walked in, he was bombarded with questions. "QUIET!" Makrarov bellowed before saying when things quieted down, "Let him answer." Zane explained everything that happened. "I have a stepbrother?" Natsu asked shocked when he heard about who Ignia's father was. "Yes, and he is a condescending glory hunting jerk of a dragon. Maybe breaking his jaw with Margert helped his ego to deflate, I didn't stick around to see after he was out cold." Zane says polishing the weaponized guitar in question.

"Gihihi, I knew that axe was powerful. Do you think you'd let me play it?" Gajeel asked with a laugh. "No one plays Margert but me. So, stop asking Gajeel." Zane said instantly. He pulls out a crystal ball that was flashing. "So, my wayward student finally wants to talk to me after years." Zane says as the face of a teenage girl with sharp green eyes, green almost black hair in the ponytail and skin paled by lack of sunlight.

"Hello Grace, why did it take you over five years to contact me?" Zane asked his student, who was a single star hunter, living on the World of Nen. "There was nothing important to tell you, master." She said in a dead voice. "You have an odd idea of what is important. I trained you to use your power then you vanish into the night without a word, taking a two-way contact orb without asking, out of nowhere. What I'm a supposed to think?" Zane pointed out annoyed. He trained Grace to use her Nen until, without warning, she vanished after he turned in for the night. She went under the radar, leaving a note thanking him for the training. "I needed to disappear to make sure I can perfect my art." She said in without a care. "Have you gotten better at sewing?" Zane snorted at her question.

"Much better than when you were training under me. Meet Gonzales, a living doll." Zane says as Gonzales walked into view shakily. "You used runes to give her movement? I'm impressed at how fine the stitching is." Grace said as a spark of pride appeared in her eyes even as her voice barley showed it. "So, what is so important that you called me?" Zane asked with sigh.

"I found a ventriloquist dummy." She was interrupted by a male voice yelling. "I'm not a DUMMY!" She continued like it never happened. "He's alive, rather mouthy and doesn't die when I stab him repeatedly. His clothes even regenerate to pristine condition when damaged." Her eyes were twitching, and her voice show a hint of anger. "Got it. Come over and take him from you before you snap." Zane says as Grace ends the call.

"Who's the creepy chick?" Natsu asks. "She goes by Doll Master nowadays. I meet her years ago, a child living in a city no one acknowledged. I gave her the name Grace and trained her for a year. When she left out of the blue, I lost track of her completely. I searched but she had a talent for 'going ghost'. Years later I learned she because a notable Hunter in the world she's from." Zane said remembering the first time he saw her in Meteor City.

"Was she always like that?" Mira asked concerned. "Dead voiced? Yes, she was like that when I met her. That and her love of puppets and dolls. She collects them and she has weaponized some. That's her power, 'Tireless Army' she calls it. She can create, control, and use 'dolls' as extensions of herself. I don't know what her limits are currently, but it must be a lot better if her file in true." Zane explained. "Dolls? What's a toy going to do to me?" Gray said confused. Zane flicks an olive pit so hard it sliced Gray's arm like a bullet graze wound. "That is what she can do with a pebble in a toy gun. Now imagine an army of toy soldiers wielding toy guns." Zane said as Wendy healed Gray.

"That is one scary ability." Gray said shuddering. "It still isn't as scary as that antics the kids at Camp Campbell got to." Zane said with a shudder. "Fresh from the war, Hestia sends me forward into the future, a few years from present time, to prove that I can be the Hearth Leader. They are lovable hell spawn that look like human children." Zane was smiling.

"You never told me about that. Then again, rules of time travel are odd." Makarov chuckles. "I should stop by to see if the camp is still standing. I invested a small chunk of my wealth to buy it and fix it up. Come to think of it, they have no idea that the 'weird dude poking the campfire' is the owner or what I even look like." Zane said realizing he never showed his face to the camp. They only knew him by his Heath Leader garb.

"Go on. You got kids to check up on." Makarov said, "But first, a See You Later party!" The guild cheered and wasted no time.

 **Author's Note: A lot happened this chapter. Next chapter Zane will be picking up a doll with a temper and revisiting the camp he worked at and bought out from under the con artist of an owner, Cameron Campbell. Camp Campbell is the setting of the rooster teeth show Camp Camp. See you next time!**


	19. The Flame of Youth

**Welcome! Zane will be stopping by Camp Campbell after picking up a doll related pest. Some other stuff will happen.**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 19: The Flame of Youth**

Camp Campbell

"Max! I have grand news! The new owner is finally coming to visit!" David, the lanky and tall camp counselor with auburn hair in an interesting style and wearing the camp staff uniform, said vibrating with excitement as his eyes and smile sparkled. The teenage camper, Max, was dark skinned, dark puffy haired, wearing his signature blue hoodie and lack of a smile. "It's be great news if that dude that you hired to watch the fire came back." He said pessimistically. "Never saw his face but did you see the spaceship he made? It was amazing!" Max was smiling remembering the rush of flying through space in the Gummiship.

"Oh Max. I miss him too, but we didn't hire him. His boss, a sweet auburn-haired lady called Ms. Hes Tia, said he needed experience and some peace to recover. After the summer was over, he had to go back to his main job. Did you ever get his name?" David asked puzzled. "I don't think anyone ever asked. We just called him 'Hearth Sitter Dude' because he sat by the campfire no matter the weather and somehow kept it burning." Max realized. "David is there any chance that you hired a Greek Priest?" David blinked at Max's question.

"Why do you say that, Max?" David was oblivious. "One, his boss is named Hes Tia. Remove the space and it's Hestia, Greek goddess of the HEARTH! Two, he kept the campfire burning the whole summer without it going out for even a moment! Three, he wore a red cloak, a pendent of said goddess and used a fire poker that looked older than the camp! And four, he makes offerings to the fire at every meal!" Max pointed out yelling at the end. "What's Max yelling about now?" Gwen, the other camp counselor, said as she fixed her hair. She was almost as dark skinned as Max but was lanky like David. Her hair was dark red, and her eyes were twitching, she was not happy.

"Gwen, Max is telling me that the fire keeper that worked here is the follower of the Greek hearth goddess." David explained quickly so not to incur her wrath. She stared at them. "Of course, he is! Who do you think got rid of that Cultist doppelganger of you, I think his name was Daniel? That fire keeper chased him out of camp breathing fire like a dragon! Then he appeared by the campfire out of nowhere ten minutes later like nothing ever happened." Gwen yells.

"Why didn't we notice that?" Max asked raking his brain. "you were looking at the road trying to figure if someone slipped you drugs." Gwen deadpans. "Oh right. That was a weird day. And today just got weirder." Max says pointing out the approaching armored warrior on a speeding moped with a trunk strapped to the back. It kicked up a dust cloud as it stopped inches from them. They coughed waiting for the dust to settle.

"Welcome to Camp Campbell! What brings you here, stranger?" David said with a smile. The rider dismissed his armor in a flash, showing Zane in biker leather glory. "Checking on the camp I bought out from that con artist for one. I'm also here to see how you guys are doing after I left a few years ago." Zane said amused.

"Hearth Sitter Dude! How you've been?" Max said grinning and fist bumping Zane. "Traveling the cosmos, saving worlds, and enjoying the bounties Chaos brings me. Is the camp still in one piece?" Zane answers. Max shrugs "It as stable as you can keep it, so barely standing at best." Max's answer was true, but the camp always lasted, somehow. "What's it like being a follower of Hestia?" Zane pandered the question. "Can't really answer that fairly. It's life for me. Call me Zane."

"Did you time travel?" Gwen questioned Zane. "You look much older than you should be if you aged a few years. About a decade maybe?" Zane raised his arms in surrender "You got me. I'm a time traveler, only some of the time. I travel space and dimensions more than I have time. I try not to mess with time. You're a fan of Doctor Who, so you figure this out makes sense." Zane said.

The trunk on the moped shakes and a muffed voice is almost heard. "Would you keep quiet in there!" Zane said rapping on the trunk. "Don't worry. It's just a thing that I pick up from somewhere. There is nothing flesh and blood in there." Zane said and Max knew he needed to see what was in it. "How do you know what he looks like? He always deflected when we tried to get his hood off." Max said annoyed.

"She was my co-worker and the only one that asked what my name was or what I looked like." Zane says pointedly at David. Sheepishly, David deflected the conversation, "Why don't you give Zane a tour of the camp, Max?" David said whistling as he made a discreet, not really, escape to the safety of the main office. "He's going do what he can to make up for that mistake. He doesn't want to offend you. I'll make sure he doesn't do anything too drastic." Gwen says following David's path.

"So, you see anything interesting?" Max asked as he starts the tour. "You remember the Endbringer?" Zane says breaking the ice. "Do I? That thing had so many weapons the only thing that had more was that super spaceship you had plans for. Speaking of that, did you get it to work?" Max asked. With a rueful smile, Zane showed him a 3d image of the Dawn of Fire. "I got it to work once. Used the Endbringer and other parts to build it. Problem is, it was so powerful it blew up utterly." Zane said taking out the Black Box of the ship and the mason jar of shards.

"Is that's all that's left of it? Anything left of what it fired at?" Max said jiggling the jar. "Dust in the wind. You're holding what was removed from my body after I almost died in the explosion of shrapnel. I got to see my dead family members." Zane said. "You are one crazy dude." Max said shaking his head. "Not as crazy as this guy I ran into in a city called Ikebukuro. He is a sociopath whose hobby is screwing with just about everyone." Zane described. "The city has a great sushi place, but it's got a lot of gangs and a man who has no limiters on his body."

"That's the guy's favorite target to rile up, I bet." Max guessed. "Exactly, and when Shizuo gets angry, well, vending machines have been known to come falling out of nowhere." Zane said laughing at Max's look of shock. "Remind me never to visit that city any time soon." Max mutters. Quartermaster, the camp groundskeeper, walked by grumbling a greeting and scratched his bushy mustache with his hook hand. He was still had only one eye ever open at a time and mysterious as ever.

"Any idea how old he is?" Zane whispers at Max. "No idea but he looks the same as he did when David was a camper." Max whispers back. A brown-haired teen, who looked like a magician, was rummaging in his hat with his arm all the way in. "Harrison still makes things vanish without returning them unharmed." Max deadpans as Harrison gives up searching his hat and waves them over. "Hello Max, and person I might have met." He says slightly unsure. "I watched the campfire. Call me Zane." Zane says.

"It is you! I must thank you for finding stuff I vanished with my magic even if you haven't found my brother yet." Harrison said humbly. Zane grabs his hat and starts pulling watches, rings, a rabbit, David's wallet, and finally, a living watermelon sized fireball with a face and arms. "FINALLY! Free at last! At least the hat was a nicer place than that volcano was." The fireball said in a crackling voice.

"Your name is Bomb, right?" Zane said still holding on to 'bomb'. "Eh? Someone knows my name?" Bomb looks at Zane. "Your affinity to fire is the highest I've seen in any mortal. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were Ifrit but that grump is too proud to look like a human." Bomb grinned "How would you like to be my summoner? All you need to do is summon me every so often to let loose." Bomb offered a flaming hand. Zane shook it saying, "I can work with that." Bomb put a bangle into Zane's wrist and vanished in a sulfurous cloud.

"So that was the 'evil spirit' of Sleepy Peak Peak? Why was it in your hat?" Max asked feeling a headache coming on. "No idea, but David will be happy to get his wallet back. Have you seen him?" Harrison said looking around. "he's in the main office." Max said. Harrison put his hat back on and goes there. "Did someone slay a monster?" A nerdy dark-skinned elf wizard LARPing female teenage wearing glasses said seeing the pile of rings and watches. "No Nerris, it's just stuff Zane pulled from Harrison's hat." Max said really feeling the headache now.

"oh! You mean the Grandmaster of the Hearth is back! His presence was missed." She says with a lisp. "what grand quest did you complete?" She asked Zane. "The sacred Brazier has been found in a distant land and returned to the temple of Hestia with much rejoice about her children." Zane says proudly. "Huzzah! Your 32,000-year quest has been completed. What of the other relics?" Nerris asked. "Still missing at least half of them but we have not given up the search." Zane said passionately. He took the pile of watches and rings; he'd make sure they were returned later.

"Before you ask, her family is not blood related to my family. Rule of the family is that you use my last name even if marry or are adopted into it. They are just friends of the Children of the Hearth and they happen to enjoy the thrill of adventure and the mystery of 'fantasy'." Max closed his mouth and nodded. Zane is 'attacked' by a girl with turquoise hair, wild eyes, and covered in scratches and scoffs. Her cloths were just as scoffed. She tried to bite Zane but all she of was a mouthful of the Pure Nail (spear)'s shaft that Zane put in the way.

"Good to see you too, Nikki. I see you haven't changed much personality wise." Zane said to the girl as she grinned at him. "It is you! You're the only one that stop my show of dominance wolf style!" Neil, a nerdy looking kid, the same age and height as Nikki and Max, with curly chestnut brown hair, started to say, "Nikki! You remember that last time you tried that on the campfire dude. He almost shish kabobbed you. How do you even know if it's the same person?" Zane did a quick change into his Hearth Leader uniform.

"That's impossible!" Neil started to mutter to himself that Zane didn't just use magic. Neil was strong minded that science had all the answers, not as bad as when Zane first met him, but he had his breakdowns. "Zane you broke him." Max said amused. "Zane, were did you get this cool spear?" Nikki asked mesmerized. "Followed the vague clues in an old journal and a tracking device to a swamp. There I met an ogre, who is a little rough around the edges and loves his privacy. After telling him what I was after he let me dig it up and leave unharmed." Zane explained.

"Someone who didn't use force solve a problem. Finally! Someone who gets peaceful confrontation!" Neil, got over his break down, said gratefully. "Zane also blew himself up in his superweapon to destroy some evil with maximum overkill." Max adds getting two reactions. "He blew himself up!" Neil said in fear. And "MAXIUM OVERKILL?" Nikki said with sparkling eyes and a manic grin. "Yep. Made the Death Star look like a water pistol in the firepower department." Max said.

"How did he get that to work? The plan he showed me could not have handled the stress just changing it would cause!" Neil demanded. "I did say he blew himself up." Max said still enjoying Neil's extreme reaction. "It's like the titanic but much cooler!" Nikki said summing things up. "Commander!" Space Kid said as his helmet made his voice sound a little weird. Space Kid, his real name is Neil Armstrong Jr, but everyone calls him Space Kid, didn't change much other than age. He was still wearing his homemade space suit. What Zane had been surprised to find out during his first time at camp was that Space Kid was the great grandson of Neil Armstrong and the great grandnephew of Buzz Aldrin. Two members of the Apollo 11 crew, the MOON LANDING CREW! Getting to meet one of the people that inspired Zane to push the boundaries was so cool, Buzz came by on Parents Day at the camp.

"Good to see you too, kid." Zane returns the salute Space was doing. "At ease." And they relax. "what planets did you visit?" Space Kid asked. "lots of them. One was a planet of molten rock and eternally erupting volcanoes. Another was a planet full of dogs. Their king is a Welsh Corgi and it is quite an active place. They call it the Dog Kingdom." Zane said remembering the worlds he visited. So many strange places yet so many more that felt like he knew it somewhat.

"Do you know anything about the new constellation that appeared recently? It looks like you by the fire." Space Kid said. "It's called the Hearth Keeper. I was rewarded for saving worlds with a constellation. Cool, right?" Zane said proudly. "I want to say that false, but it makes too much sense given what you've proven." Neil said sighing in defeat.

Muack the platypus walked by and sighed in a dry tone that only Zane understood, "Your back at camp. Lovely." Zane offered her a bloody slab of hyena meat and she said in happy but still dry tone, "I guess I can give you some respect, as long as you give me this every month you stay here." She grabs the slab and drags it away to eat in peace. The blood trail made David who missed it scream then faint. "This day is just getting better and better." Max said with a laugh.

"What was that meat from and how long were you carrying it around?" Neil asked. "Over a decade ago, I kill an army of hyena invaders and was give the extra carcasses by the locals as payment. I have literal tons of hyena meat in a space that keeps things from aging or spoiling. I find the meat to be on the gamey side so I rare eat it unless I need to. Hyena jerky?" He offers them stripes of the jerky. They try it and find it to taste ok but gamey. "Let's throw him into the lake!" Nikki says grabbing David's legs. Max grabs his arms, but Zane stops them.

"Kids, you need to remove his wallet and stuff first. Then you throw him in." Zane corrected with a grin. "Best camp staff member ever." Max says as Zane does just that.

An hour later

David woke up with start and fell off the board he was on into the cold water of the lake. "What Am I doing out here?" He shivers clinging to the board and swimming to the dock. Gwen was standing there with all the campers laughing at him. "Did you enjoy your swim?" Gwen asked fighting back laughter, "You need to stop freaking out over the blood trails Muack leaves behind." She helps him out of the water.

The next day

Camp Campbell Mess hall

Zane was eating the unidentifiable 'food' Quartmaster served today. "I have no idea what's in the mystery meat, but it tastes ok. The mashed potatoes are little salty too." Neil said sitting across from Zane. "No one has died because of his cooking, so let's leave it a mystery." Zane says starting to eat.

"Zane! I found something cool in the forest!" Nikki yelled running in carrying a basket that was chained up and locked shut. "It talks too" She adds as a squeaky voice pleaded "Please let me out. I can grant wishes!" Nikki set in on the table as Zane noted the lack of Max. "Where's Max?" Zane looked around. "He said he was planning something." Nikki said trying to bite the chain.

"You in the basket, why did you lie? What reason are you imprisoned?" Zane said firmly. The squeaky voice was nervously talking based on how shifty it sounded, "It is what my kind does. We lie to survive. I did nothing to deserve this punishment. So, what if I nibbled on that horse that almost trampled me. It's recovered." Zane had an idea what was in the basket now. "What is a Tsuchinoko doing in the west? You guys live in japan mostly." Zane said making the basket shake.

"I don't know what you're talking about I'm just a normal snake." The voice said fearfully. "Tsuchinoko? You mean the snake critter that has a chubby body but normal head and tail?" Neil asked. "yes, they are normally only a foot to 2 and half feet long. They are youkai so they sometimes get a lot bigger if the right things happen. They have venom like a viper and roll away like tire or screech loudly to escape danger." Zane explained feeling he was forgetting something.

"Please let me out! I swear to serve you if you do!" the Tsuchinoko plead. Zane sliced the chains apart with a blade shaped flame. The snake youkai peaked out and let out a whimpering squeak. "I didn't know it was you, Bird of the Hearth. I would have told the truth sooner if I did. Please don't burn me!" It begged and pleaded.

"What's he talking about, Zane? He does look chubby." Nikki asked picking the snake youkai just behind the head and holding on to the tail. "Foolish human child. We youkai know of the great power he has at his fingertips. Maybe if you paid more attention to what happens in the shadows you'd know too. He is a friend of the Train Conductor." The Tsuchinoko said with a full body shudder. "What's so special about that?" Nikki asked. "The Train Conductor one of THEM. You humans call THEM Lovecraftian beings." The youkai whispered with darting eyes.

"Yeah he's an ok guy for his kind. Runs a 'train' that will take you anywhere you've been or knows enough about on that world. I've used it so many times I've got to know him more than most. He likes reading 'people' and the things they carry with them." Zane said. "Yes, he reads you like an open book and hoards all he learns for whatever reason." The snake youkai was terrified as he said this.

Zane is alerted by the runes near his moped that someone was tampering with the trunk he strapped to it. "Max, I hope you are ready for the thing you are unleashing." He said with a sigh. "To explain 'what' the Train Conductor is, that's tricky. He's a 50+ dimensional being that found his, I use he said I should, life was lacking. One day, when was watching the lesser beings he witnessed a train being made." Zane explained.

"so that's why he runs a 'train'?" Neil asked. "Makes sense, people tend to talk to passengers on them. He gets to see how the interact and they get to go where they need to go. A symbiotic system that benefits all parties. No idea what he's even thinking but this I can understand." Neil nodded to himself. "It should. It's his 'explanation for 3d beings' as he calls it. When I asked how many versions of that he had, he said 'as many versions as needed'. He still hasn't told me exactly how many dimensions he is, 50 is the first thing I guessed, and he said, 'higher than that' with an amused twinkle in his eye." Zane grumbled.

"I don't understand everything you said but he sounds cool." Nikki said as even the youkai sweat dropped at her statement. "She's not an intellectual type, is she?" the Tsuchinoko says.

With Max

Max was picking the lock on the trunk by Zane's moped. "You all most got it unlocked, kid." The voice in inside the trunk said. "So, Slappy, why are you locked in there?" Max asked as he worked the lock. "Oh, you know, annoyed Zane after he rescued me from his stab happy doll making student. He's not too bad a guy to have. Must better than the mafia I had to deal with for years. They dared to call me a 'cursed dummy'! I may be a puppet that a ventriloquist would use but I refuse to be called that label." Slappy explained.

"You mean like Jeff Dunham or Darci Lynne?" Max asked pausing for a moment. "You know those people? Small world, Zane is a fan of their acts too." Slappy said surprised. The lock opened with a click and the trunk was opened from within. Slappy the living ventriloquist dummy stretched. He was in a tuxedo on and had dark 'hair'. "Thanks kid. It's stuffy in there. I miss that slave of mine." He said as Max backed away. "Don't worry. You didn't bring me to life, so I'm not obligated to turn you into a slave. Remember this kid, Magic always has a cost. Anyways my 'reviver' was a mafia dude. He lasted for 57 years before he was offed. Now I just get passed around because owners find me 'creepy'. I'm going to see the sights if you don't mind." Slappy climbed out of the truck and walked off. "Zane is not going to be happy." Max said.

Ten minutes later

Camp Campbell main office

"You did WHAT!" Gwen yelled at Max. Max stood before Gwen, David, Zane and Quartermaster and explained what he did. "The doll is not a danger. I have met him once before." Quartermaster said. "Right. You are the Eternal Custodian, so you deal with a Lovecraftian suit wearing squid god who wants to cleanse the planet in holy fire." Zane said nodding. Quartermaster had filled Zane in on some interesting things last night.

"I'm sure Slappy means no harm." David said trying to look on the bright side. "Jumanji is more dangerous than Slappy is right now. It's fun for family game night but most person aren't ready for a magic boardgame that unleashes dangers with each roll of the dice." Zane said as they look at him. "I see you found the living game created by forces unknown. Keep it entertained and you will keep it from ending worlds." Quartermaster said wisely in his gruff voice.

"What don't dangerous things don't you have just laying around?" Max asked. "I keep the dangerous stuff locked away. Like that firework that was confiscated from you when you first got to camp." Zane said pointedly. "You raided the contraband building before it burned down?" Max demanded. "Yes, I did. I found a lot of good stuff for my tinkering and tons of pokemon cards for some reason." Zane says.

"I know, it's so weird. Why keep it in a creepy house on island in the middle of the lake anyways? We almost died after the fire started and engulfed the island." Max commented. "In a fortnight the heavens will be in aliment. Any magic done in that time will be magnified greatly without greater cost." Quartermaster explained. "What's a fortnight?" David whispered to Gwen. "It's fourteen days. We should be more worried about what chaos happens that night with Zane around. He's chaos magnet without magic being amped up." Gwen said popping a few headache pills and washing them down.

"I'm going to be stocking up on some spell components I need." Zane said. "I finally tracked down where Obelius Laskaris was dropped off only to learn that he found a 'way home'. The problem is he never got back, alive or dead." Zane was looking through a grimoire carefully. "So, he got lost on the way back? Or was he kidnapped? What kind of stuff you need?" Max asked.

"hen's teeth, stone blood, hair of the diseased, among other things." Zane listed. Quartermaster plucked a few of his hairs and dropped it into a sealed vial. "That's one less I need to worry about." Zane said taking the vial. "How do you get stone blood? Rocks don't bleed." David comments confused. "It's magma. The deeper it's collected the stronger it is." Zane said.

"That's…" Gwen starts but stops. "Never mind. Just go collect what you need before you say something that makes me go insane." She shoos at Zane in defeat.

a week later

Sleepy Peak Peak

"This is the last regiment I need." Zane said looked over the mouth of the volcano and judged what the best angle to dive was. Floating next to him was Bomb. "You plan to swim to the deepest part of the mantle to collect a magical regiment?" He asked Zane before shrugging "Just swim down until you can't go any deeper. I'd guide you but I don't want to get trapped again." Bomb dismissed himself as Zane did a perfect swan dive and disappeared under the liquid rock.

Six days later

Camp Campbell

A non-descript black car rolls up to the camp and a former camp steps out and smiles in lazy nostalgic way. "Good to be back at camp." Meredith "Ered" Miller said as her secret agent fathers step out of the car. Ered had a lazy posture and her blonde hair with maroon dyed bangs were as puffy as when she was a camper. Her clothes were worn in a 'cool' way. "Remember, we need to talk to Zane before tonight." Her pale skinned father said as the darker skinned father sniffed the air. "Do you smell fire and brimstone?" He asks. "yes, with a hint of explosion. Bomb must have escaped the volcano. Seeing as the forest isn't on fire, someone became his summoner." The pale Agent said.

"There's Zane now, and he is looking on fire at that moment." Ered says as a Zane left the forest, leaving burnt footprints as he glowed with heat. "Zane Laskaris, we would like a word with you about the spell you might be using tonight." The dark Agent requested flashing his badge. "Hello Agents. I see you are as cool as ever, Ered." Zane greeted as he was splashed with buckets of water. There was hiss and no one could see his as steam covered him and the agents. When the steam cleared all three were gone and Ered was smirking at David and Gwen's confused expressions. "He's got skill." She comments. "

Undisclosed location

"There is concerns about what you are planning tonight based on what you have been collected the past two weeks. We have laws about spells and other magical things that can cause the end of the world or universe." Pale Agent said sliding a folder over to Zane as he and his partner sat across from Zane in a dark room with only a light blub over the table giving light.

Dark Agent continued for his partner, "You got a large quantity of hen's teeth. Normally this wouldn't be a problem but combined with the rest of the stuff, it leaves only a few possibilities, some of them quite deadly." Zane read the report. "I'm using the wide scale time space locater spell. I intend to find someone who was lost in a multiverse that wasn't synced up with this one until recently. Landed about a billion years ago in that place by it was only six hundred years for this universe." Zane said coolly.

"I see, this was what we hopped you were going to use. We don't need a super charged necromancy ritual being used where so many lay lines cross." Pale Agent said, taking the folder back. "Good luck on your task. You are free to go."

The next morning

Camp Campbell Staff Cabin

"Should we be worried?" David asked Quartermaster. Zane still sleeping in his bed. "The drain was quite great despite the aid the heavens provided. Let him rest and recover in the meantime." Quartermaster said as they left Zane's room.

Five minutes later

Camp Campbell Mess hall

"Zane is feeling under the weather right now. He'll feel better tomorrow hopefully. Let's have a good day like he'd want us to do." David announced to the campers before breakfast began. "Harrison, you were there. What happened last night?" Nikki asked. "Well he placed this basin in the middle of a super complex runic circle and started chanting. Then things got weird to nth power. Nerris, you were there when time and space started to warp and twist like it was a pretzel." Harrison said to the only other camper that had been there to see the nights events. "Quartermaster was there too. There was a rush of locations only shown briefly before it focused a world populated by Pokémon!" She said amazed.

"Were there any humans?" Neil asked. "No idea. Anyways it focused on this old looking bell Pokémon." Nerris said animatedly. "Bronzong, a steel and Psychic type Pokémon. It's said to bring good harvest." Neil deduces from her description. Seeing the looks he was getting. "What? I find some of the feats in the pokedex to be interesting enough to disprove." Neil defends himself. "Wait he was looking for one of his family members. Can getting lost in the void effect you?" Max asked getting an idea.

Slappy popped up next to them and laughed as they were startled. "That's right kid. The void is a dangerous place. Both body and mind can be twisted in many inhuman ways. Sounds like Obelius Laskaris got chewed up and spat out as a living bell. The question is how is his mind? Will it be like the meaning of his name, a pillar of strength, or has it broken beyond repair?" He starts to laugh again but Space Kid throw a handful of mush at him, yelling, "FOOD FIGHT!" It's safe to say that all the camps helped escalated it with unholy glee. "Come on David! We need to get out of here!" Gwen said as they creeped into the kitchen to safety. "I knew Slappy was going to cause trouble." David winced at this. Slappy had taken great pleasure in messing with the camp. Scaring campers, doing pranks that were a little too mean to be just a harmless joke.

"Gwen, He's not that bad. No one was hurt." David said. "Only because Slappy doesn't want to become a briquette. Zane is the only thing keeping him from going all out with his nasty tricks. We just need to survive until Slappy leaves then we just need to deal with the normal chaos we get." Gwen yelled as she slammed the serving window closed. Quartermaster had vanished at some point and the food fight sounded like it wasn't ending anytime soon.

The next day

Camp Campbell

Zane breathed in the fresh air and stretched. "Good morning camp." Zane greeted but stared at the state the camp was in. It was a chaotic mess. Campers were cleaning up the splashes, of what Zane hoped was paint, under the watchful eye of the Quartermaster. Gwen had Slappy bound in chains and padlocks, watching him like an angry hawk. And David was hanging by his shirt on the flagpole. "Good morning Zane! Things got a little messy but everything in under control." David said cheerfully swaying as a breeze blow him.

"Gwen. What happened?" Zane asked and flicked back at her glare. Poking him in the chest with each word she explained, "Slappy instigated a 'war' among the campers. Started with a food fight, then a paint wars was started around lunch time. They've been cleaning all night. Putting the stuff back where it belongs, and I have no idea why David is up the flagpole." She admits at the end.

"It was the Agent of Chaos. That gal is a kid after my own heart." Slappy praised as Nikki grinned at them as she cleaned. Gwen just sighed "of course she'd do something like that. No idea how but she did it." Slappy just laughed at her before he was promptly gaged. "Yesterday sounded like a Tuesday." Zane commented. "Screw this! You deal with this." Gwen stomps off to the staff cabin and was not seen all day.

"Zane could you get me down!" David asked. "There's no hurry but I haven't had anything to eat today and the breeze is a little chilly up here." He comments. Zane just shook his head and kicked the flagpole. David's shirt comes loose, and he falls. Zane grabs him just in time and dusts him off. "how long were you up there?" Zane asked. "all night. I think Nikki waited for me to go to sleep to hang me up there." David guessed.

"Alright kids! Let's clean this place up. Do it by dusk and I will share a story by the campfire tonight." Zane words made the campers pause then cheer as they cleaned like their lives depended on it. "See. They may be hell spawn but their fun to look after." Zane said to David who was smiling at how he got them to clean faster. "They always loved your stories. The way you tell them is entrancing.

That evening

Camp Campbell

"So, what kind of tale do you kids want to hear?" Zane said as they sat around the fire. "Tell one about fighting monsters!" Nikki said. "No, one about exploring!" Space Kid shouts. "How about telling us about one of your students? You told us about your doll obsessed one, there has to be other ones." Max requested. Zane smiled to himself. He had the perfect story to fit all three requests. "While she wasn't my student there was someone I trained in the art of fire. It all started in place called Runeterra, where I was greeted by Death and fire." As Zane started their eyes were drawn to the fire, where the events of the past were shown.

Flashback

Runeterra

Continent of Noxus

Ironspike Mountains

The Borderlands

Zane was walking the untamed forests, minding his own business, when he heard two voices from all around him. "Why can't we hunt him, Lamb? The hunt will be so grand." The male voice said in a gruff guttural voice. "Wolf, his end is not for us to bring. He is another Death's prey. Come let's greet the one who aids Death." The soft female voice said right behind Zane.

Turning, Zane saw a cloven hooved female archer carrying a bow and wear a mask that reminded him of a lamb. From the shadows, there was a massive black work wearing a half mask of a wolf. "Greeting Kindred. We haven't met yet but Death, the one that is the one to make deals with me, has spoken highly of your skill at dealing with those pesky 'immortals'. What can I do for you?" He said bowing slightly.

"I like him, Lamb. He greets us with respect and bravery." Wolf said with a grin that showed the many sharp glistening fangs he had. "Indeed Wolf. A soul had a request that you can fulfill. It means little to us, but you may be interested." Lamb said. "She fell in a river to get water for her daughter. A swift death for she was smashed upon the rocks and my arrow pierced her heart. Her request was simple, tell her daughter her fate. She has a teddy bear with red eyes." Lamb said her piece and vanished like mist with wolf following her.

A few weeks later

Zane had come to a home that shouting was coming from. Outside was to human looking little girls. One girl had honey brown hair and was wearing a yellow dress and the slightly younger girl in a red dress had dark hair and a red horned headband. "Excuse me, is your mother and father home?" Zane asked as he spotted the teddy bear that matched the describe.

"They're inside fighting about Annie again." The older girl said. Annie hugged her teddy as embers bloomed around her. Zane acted quickly and whistled a bird call. Annie cheered up as a few blue jays sing for her at Zane's request. "That was close. Uncontrolled pyromancy can give dangerous." Annie smiled at Zane. "You have powers too?" She asked. "I hurt Daisy by." She stumbled over the next word. "By accident? I'm guessing you were stressed, and Daisy was the cause of the stress." Daisy looked a little ashamed.

"Listen. Do you know Kindred?" Zane said crouching down to eye level. They nod. "Lamb told me your mother, Amoline, died trying to get ice water for you when you had fever. It was painless but she died because of love for her child." Zane said softly. Annie didn't react at first but then flames burst into life as he hugged Zane crying. Daisy stepped back fearfully as Annie's flames engulfed the stranger who had delivered the grim news to her stepsister. In her grief, Annie didn't notice her parents opening the front door or the fact that Zane was hurt.

Gregori the Gray, a mage, was shocked at what was happening before him and his second wife, Leanna, on the other hand was fearful of the magic Annie was displaying. "Set it out. Your feelings are better off expressed out you will lose control of their magic." Zane was saying to the crying Annie. When she stopped crying and flames died down, she turned her father and asked. "Daddy, Kindred took mother." Gregori pushed a hand through his brown hair and sighed.

"What can we do for you stranger, now that you've brought such grim news?" Gregori asked. "I wish to train Annie to control her pyromancy and use it safely. She developed it at a young age so it critical to do this." Zane said, standing up. "And what proof do you have that it can be controlled?" Leanna demand, her honey brown hair was slightly frazzled, and she showed signs of high stress. "After much mental training I have out my wraith to be manageable." Zane says makes a frog made of fire appear and do a little jig before bowing as it vanished.

"Can you teach me to do that with Tibbers?" Annie asked brightly. "That and much more. I have the feeling that Tibbers is more than just a teddy bear. Your father has to agree to let me train you." Zane says amused. "Please!" both children say hugging Gregori's pant legs. "As much as I am wary of you her safety requires me to let you train her." Gregori says letting Zane in the house.

Zane at the table and introduced himself properly. "I've heard of your kind. A strange group of mages who warship a god no one else can find proof of outside of your group. I feel much safer letting you train her now." Gregori said as Leanna poured tea. "The state this family is in, is few steps from a forest fire. You need to work out your problems with Annie's abilities before you do something you will regret." Zane says pointedly at Leanna. "Powers like pyromancy are tied to the emotions of the user. How do you think a child would fell when the parental unit acts like you did?"

Leanna was silent and Zane waited for her answer. Finally, she said "fine, I'll give her a second chance." It was better than nothing. "Thank you. A stable home is a step to a stable mind. Daisy can benefit from the training too. She doesn't have pyrokinesis, but some survival training will keep her from misjudging if a river is safe to cross." Gregori agreed readily. "The rivers tend to flood making the rocks too slippery to step on. One of the dangers when you live out here."

Flashback paused

Camp Campbell

"Where's the action?" Nikki interrupts Zane as everyone glares at her. "I was getting to that part. Like most settlements in the untamed wilderness, bandits and other unsavory types start to harass the people. Break and arm or leg? They comeback with buddies. Rough those guys up and smash their teeth in? They call everyone to make an example out of you." Zane explained. "This happened three months into their training. We were near a river practicing her control when a couple hundred low lives found my presence to be 'bad for business'. It's was also the day Annie got the moniker 'The Dark Child'" Zane had a savage grin as he continued the tale.

Flashback continued

Runeterra

Continent of Noxus

Ironspike Mountains

The Borderlands

A forest clearing

"Me and the boys have had enough of you muddling in our operations." The lead bandit said as Zane reeled from this smell. Annie, holding her bear, was standing with Daisy behind her. The river was to their backs and bandits with rusty and chipped weapons boxed them in. "What do we do? The river is too fast and wide to get across and they want to hurt us." Daisy said holding the survival Knife Zane gave her in a threatening manner, if she wasn't a little girl, who was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

"Don't worry girls, we wouldn't hurt good money tickets. Your parents will pay quite a pretty penny for your safe return." A bandit sneered and the others laughed maliciously. Zane's expression went cold. "Annie, Tibbers wants to get back at the bandit that pulled a stitch, right?" Zane asked and Annie nodded. "He's not here but the bad man's friends are. Tibbers will take what he can get." Annie said cheerfully.

"What is a teddy bear going to do? Break our limbs with its fluffy claws?" a bandit mocked, and his cohorts laughed at his joke. Annie's bear started to glow along the stitches. In moments it turned into a lifelike bear creature, standing at four meters tall on his hind legs and flames came from the stitches on his body. When it roared with glowing red eyes, the bandits stopped laughed and tried to run. Tibbers was faster and very good at breaking bones without killing the owner of said bones. Annie was clapping amused at the carnage.

End of flashback

Camp Campbell

"And that is how I trained owner of the scariest teddy bear I've ever met." Zane finished. "Your students are not normal." Gwen comments. "How did the higher ups react to rumor the surviving bandits spread?" Nerris asked "Did they sand an army to apprehend her? Or maybe give her a reward?" Zane shook his head. "Not exactly. The Institute of War caught wind of her talent in battle and asked Darius, the Hand of Noxus aka the leader of the city state, to invite her to join the League of Legends. It is a way for warriors representing each city state battle it out for land, riches, and solve arguments without fear of needless bloodshed. They can kill as much as they want without anyone actually dying." Zane said.

"He didn't force her to join, did he?" David asked worried. "No, but he did go the 'for the honor of Noxus' route in persuading her to consider it. Patriotism and all that, but it was her choice and her parents' blessing to pursue that path. The stepmother still doesn't love her but at least she no longer hates her." Zane finished explaining. "That makes sense. She is a citizen of Noxus and as her leader, she is obligated to at least listen to him. If she fights for the glory of Noxus then her family is better off as a result." Neil states.

"Yeah she gets to break more powerful foes with teddy bear of doom!" Nikki cheers. "How long ago did this happen?" Max asked. "at least five years ago. Time can get wonky place to place. I have trained many people, but Annie was one of the more memorable ones." Zane said nostalgically.

The hearth blazed as the face of a barn owl appeared in it. "Hearth Leader Zane, your family's defense system has finally proven to be a good investment recently." The owl said in a male voice that showed how annoyed he was. "Wan Shi Tong, the Children of the Hearth are both grateful and worried that they would be needed in the first place. What has happened in the last hundred years?" Zane said bowing respectfully to the spirit owl who owned a library in the spirit world. "War. That foolish fire lord started an almost hundred war that still rages today. One of the pro fire nation supporters tried to burn my collection of knowledge on them." Wan Shi Tong laughed a harsh barking laugh. "He found out the hard way it was a bad idea, when his own flames licked greedily at his own flesh. Sadly, only his arms were badly scared, and he got away with knowledge of where the moon spirit resides. I recommend dealing with him before he does anything foolish."

Wan Shi Tong's expression softened somewhat, "I apologize for forcing you to enter another war but we both know it is your duty to protect. May the hearth's warmth protect you in this trying time." Wan Shi Tong's face vanished from the flames as it returned to normal. "You get Hearth calls?" Max asked. "From an owl librarian?" Neil added as confused as Max was.

"Wan Shi Tong is a spirit who has been in contact with the Children of the Hearth for many millennia. We were the ones who aided him in constructing his library and fortifying it. In return we have a deal to exchange knowledge that other has and has clearance to, mainly copies. This will be me first time meeting him in person." Zane said. "What about the Hearth call thing?" Max asked again. "Think Harry Potter's Floo powder with the whole travel part and you don't need to stick your head in the fire. That and you need to have one of those and the name of the person you wish to contact." Zane said lifting the amulet he always wore for them to get a better look.

"Is he going to kill the moon?" Space Kid asked. "he knows where the moon spirit is so it's not that big a leap in logic to reach that conclusion." Zane nodded "That is one possibility. It's been a great visit to the camp and getting to spend time with you kids, but I must leave for a war whose conclusion is long overdue." Zane was pulled into a group hug. "Please stay for a few more days." They begged and Zane agreed to their joy.

A few days later

97 AG (the war started 0 AG)

World of the Four Elements (Based of Avatar the Last Air Bender)

Wan Shi Tong's Spirit Library

Zane drank in the sheer beauty of the library's interior. Vaulted arched ceilings and pillars were the basic structure. Towering shelves full of books, scrolls and many other things filled most of the space in an orderly fashion. Here and there were artistic objects, like statues and vase. Bridge walkways crossed a wide-open space in the middle of the library that let the giant black and white owl spirt to fly to any of the floors quickly. Said Owl spirit flew silently and land near Zane. Wan Shi Tong was all black save his white face.

"I see you find my library to be architecturally pleasing." Wan Shi Tong said as his neck elongated to look at the painting Zane had. "'Camp Chaos' a fitting title for such a masterpiece. DO you know the artist?" Wan Shi Tong asked. Zane laughed. The painting was a panning action shot that capture the paint war that happened perfectly, painted but all the campers in said war. Multiple styles of painting were used in such a way it was the perfect randomness the was between masterpiece and total mess. "It was don't but the campers of Camp Campbell as a gift for your library." Zane says handing it over to Wan Shi Tong.

"It will be an excellent addition." Wan Shi Tong says taking the painting into his wing making it vanish. "The human you seek is Zhao of the Fire Nation. You may want to do a little research before you go hunting. I recommend checking the history selection." Wan Shi Tong said flying into the depths of the library. One of the brown furred fox like spirits, called Knowledge Seekers, padded up to him and tugged on the durable cotton robes he wears to blend in with the people of this world.

"Let's go read some history." Zane said as he was guided to that part of the library. When they reached the right place, Zane asked for books they had information he'd need. The Knowledge Seeker grabbed a few dozen books and scrolls. Zane gave it a treat and it waited patiently as Zane read the selected materials. It returns the ones Zane was done with and got rewarded.

At the same time

Somewhere out to sea

"Uncle, what news does father send?" Zuko, the banished prince, son of Fire Lord Ozai, said as a messenger hawk had come and left. Zuko's left eye and a large patch of skin around it was covered by bandages and his black hair was in a top knot style. His Uncle, (retired General) Iroh, read the message and frowned. He had gray hair, in a top knot, sideburns, and beard that he stroked. They both wear armor of the Fire Nation. "It seems he returned with his arms completely scared by fire. The pain remedies have fails utterly. I have sent a message informing them it might be spirit related." Iroh said worried.

"What would cause the spirits to attack him like that?" Zuko asked, not knowing what kind of man Zhao really was. "He broke a rule and angered a spirit. Zuko there is one spirit that I knew could have done that without a doubt. Wan Shi Tong has a rule that no one has ever broken, at least until now. 'do not destroy his collection' is an ironclad rule everyone who has heard of his library knows." Iroh said gravely.

"I must find the Avatar before anyone else does. I was hoping for a lead." Zuko said firmly. "Patience Nephew. We have only been searching for a few months. The Koi fish did not ascend into a dragon in one try." Iroh said sagely. "That's right, Uncle. Like the Koi climbing the waterfall, I will try until I find the Avatar and restore by honor, no matter how long it takes." Zuko vowed, missing Iroh's disappointed sigh.

A few months later

Home of the Sun Warriors

Zane was greeted by the Sun Warriors with respect. "Greetings Dragon of Wraith. The Masters are expecting you." The Sun Warrior Chief said, guiding Zane to the Eternal Flame. "I trust you know what to do." Zane wordlessly called a ball of fire from the Eternal Flame and carried it up the stairs to the place between the lairs of the Masters. Zane didn't have to wait long for them to greet him. Massive eastern dragons, one blue and one red, burst from the doors on either side of the bridge and circled him.

They spoke at the same time making it hard to tell who Ran was and who was Shaw. "greetings angry koi. You have for filled your promise you made last time we met years ago. You have passed through the Dragon's Gate and impressed us. We will train you to fire bend now. You will not leave until we deem you worth of the title 'dragon'." They commended and Zane bowed to their request.

Two years later

99 AG Winter

World of the Four Elements

Near the South Pole middle of the sea

On board Prince Zuko's ship

"Dragon of Wraith, it is great to meet you at last." Iroh said bowing to Zane. Zuko slams hatch to the interior of the ship open demanding why they stopped the ship. "Zuko, meet a master of Fire few can match." Iroh says then introduces Zuko to Zane. "Uncle, I thought you killed the last dragon? That's how you got the title 'Dragon of the West'." Zuko asked. "That is true, but Zane earned it for his flames are said to surpass that of dragons. Even the Avatar would have difficulty overpowering him with fire bending." Iroh says setting up tea. "You don't mind Jasmine tea, I hope."

"It's not my preferred drink but it's lovely." Zane says sitting at the low table. "Uncle! We don't have time for tea!" Zuko demanded. "You will find that the ice is too thick to advance without ripping a hole in the haul of the ship." Zane said sipping tea. Zuko's unscarred eye twitched in anger. "Men! Melt the ice!" Zuko yelled at the fire benders under his command. "Why haven't I heard of him before?" Zuko asked impatiently as he sat at the table. He had been searching for a few years now and found nothing. "It's quite simple. Zane is not born in the Fire Nation. As a result, he and his many family members are a touchy subject for the Royal Family. In his veins runs the blood of the most secretive and powerful group of fire benders that I know of." Iroh explained.

"He's a Child of the Hearth? Father found their refusal to aid in the Fire Nation or any Nation for that matter to be disgraceful. Why would a person like him come to my ship?" Zuko puzzled. "To find someone. Not the Avatar, not I'm going after a foul slag of a man. Your ship with cross paths with him at some point and save me the time and effort to hunt him." Zane's grin was chilling. "I hope you catch him then." Iroh said as a beam of energy shot into the sky.

"That must be the Avatar! Aim for the light!" Zuko ordered as the ship started to move. "soon this war will be over for better or worse." Zane commented. "We shall see in time. Will you aid in ending it?" Iroh asked as Zuko went about yelling orders. "Wan Shi Tong requested I do something about it. I can disappoint a friend like him." Zane answered softly so only Iroh heard him. "Zhao will be very interested stealing the glory from Zuko if he finds and captures the Avatar. He can't resist a chance at more power." Iroh whispers back.

A few days later

99AG Winter

World of the Four Elements

South Pole

Southern Water Tribe

The Southern Water Tribe was not what it once was. All the battle-ready warriors had left the woman and children to fight the war and the walls were easily breached by Zuko's ship. Zuko and his fire benders strode off the ship and rounded up all the people there. Zuko almost grabbed the elder of the tribe but Zane stopped him. "I allow me to do the talking." Zane said in his ear. A teenager with war paint throws a bladed boomerang at Zuko but Zane grabbed it between two fingers. "Oh! come on!" the thrower said. Zane addressed the elderly lady (they share many features with the tribes that live on the icy lands). "Honored elder, have you seen the Avatar recently. Please don't lie or we will be forced to get answers another way." Her granddaughter was going to water bend an attack but the elder simply said. "Katara, no need to attack yet. We have not seen the Avatar that we know of. The only stranger other than yourself was an air bender who left yesterday. Please forgive my grandson, Sokka tends to be overzealous when comes to protecting the tribe."

"I understand completely. Make sure to give this to him after we leave." Zane hands her the boomerang and she put it in her fur parka. Out of nowhere, a blast of wind knocks the fire benders into pile as a bald kid in an orange and yellow monk robe slid in on a penguin. He stood up brandishing a staff and said, "I'm the Avatar. If you promise not to hurt them, I will give myself up." Katara said worried "Aang! You don't need to do this. Run!" Aang just Zuko put him in chains and capture him.

Zane was the last one to board the ship. He turned and said to Katara, "If you really are his friend, I'd try to save him. It's up to you what you decide." He walked away knowing he would be seeing her again soon.

A few hours later

On board Zuko's ship

"Why are you doing this? You aren't with the rest of them." Aang asked Zane as he had escaped his bonds and was dodge fire balls. "You are bait for my prey what happens after that doesn't matter at this moment." Zane said walking to the bow of the ship and began to meditate. Katara and Sokka arrived on a white furred flying bison. Aang escaped and Zuko was not happy.

"You let him escape!" Zuko yelled in his face. "Did you not say it was you who was going to capture him? Worry not, now you know what he looks like." Zane said calm as a still pond. Zuko bent fire at him in anger but Zane paid no mind. After a minute or two, he calmed down. "Does fire not touch you?" Zuko asked panting. "Do you not trust what you see?" Zane asked as an answer to his question.

Zuko said nothing and returned to his quarters on the ship to reflect on what happened. "The trap has been baited and the prey eagerly seeks it." Iroh said showing a White Lotus Pai Sho tile covertly to Zane. "I see. I will keep an eye out for anything important."

Ten minutes later

With Team Avatar

Flying away from the South Pole

"What did he mean that I was bait?" Aang said to himself. They were on Appa, the flying bison gaining distance from the ship by the second. "Who said you were bait?" Katara asked. "The one with Zuko, you know, the one that caught Sokka's boomerang." Aang explained. "That guy was just another Fire Nation enemy. Don't worry about his twisted logic." Sokka said resting his limbs from the fight. Aang disagreed "He's not Fire Nation, he is one of the Children of the Hearth." They look at him surprised "What does a bedtime story have to do with this. They are just someone's imaginary thing to tell children not to leave the fire unattended at night." Sokka said.

"Sokka, the Avatar is a 'bedtime story' yet here he is." Katara pointed out. "The Children of the Hearth are strangers who have been allies to some of the spirits for who knows how long. The monks at the Air Temple contacted one of them a thousand years ago. In return for copies of all the knowledge they had, they were given a last resort protection at each of the temples. I don't know what it does, but it was said to require a heavy price to ensure not the monks would be safe." Aang said worried. "So, there is a bunch of spirit friends that tend to campfires and like books. What's the big deal? They didn't do a thing when the war started, and the Air Benders are rarely ever seen these days." Sokka said annoyed.

"What he means is that the Fire Nation Attacked the Air Temples and something odd happened. 30% of the air benders and the invading forces were destroyed. The remaining air benders scattered to the winds and are rarely ever seen. They are around by one can track down where they go. The Fire Nation has given up of hunting them because the avatar wasn't among them." Katara explained. Aang changes coarse, telling Appa to go the Southern Air Temple. "I have to see for myself." Aang said as the siblings stare him worried for their blue arrow tattooed friend.

Back with Zane

A few days later

At a port town

Zane stared at the man he was hunting. Zhao had a top knot and sideburn hair in a reddish-brown color. His arms with completely covered, even as Zhao had full use of them, must be a matter of pride for the man. "Zhao, you are a hard man to find." Zane said. "What do you want? I am the Admiral of the Fire Nation Navy and have no time for idle chitchat." Zhao barked his demand. Zuko, Iroh, and a bunch of Fire Nation soldiers were watching them. "I challenge you to an Agni Kai." Zane said coldly.

Zhao laughed "Another fool looking for glory. I accept. It will be at sunset." Zhao left to prepare. "Nephew, you will get a glimpse of his power." Iroh said to Zuko before placing a bet of Zane winning.

Later at sunset

Zane stood shirtless as par the rules of Agni Kai. His scars were of full display unlike Zhao who had his arms still covered. "Uncle where did he get those matching scars?" Zuko asked referring to the stab scars. "I do not know but it much have been quite painful for him." Iroh answered wondering the same thing.

"You still hide your arms in shame. Do you not have honor?" Zane asked as Zhao bent fire in anger at him. Zane parried it away in the graceful motion of the Dancing Dragon Fire Bending style. Iroh's eye widened slightly but he hid his reaction. Zane continued to tire Zhao out in this manner and made of a fool out of him by burning him with a flame ball the shape of an owl. "You lost." Zane said walking away as Zhao glared. Iroh collected his winnings when Zhao blasted Zane from behind for a full minute in a continuous stream of orange flame.

"I never lose! Not to anyone! And definitely not to that damn owl!" Zhao laughed madly as he 'burned' Zane. A fist coming from the stream of fire smashing into his chest, sending him on his back as Zane was unharmed. "Have fun in the Spirit World." Zane spat as cracks raced along Zhao's body. With the sound of glass breaking, Zhao vanished with the look of fear on his face. "Shows over. Oh. I will be taking that fool's money and personal belongings as my prize for winning." Zane said and none of the soldiers watching stopped him.

"Zhao will not be coming back any time soon. The spirits have flair for the dramatic it seems." Iroh said with sigh. "What kind of Bending style is that? I have never seen it before." Zuko focused on that to avoid thinking about what happened after the dual. "It is a much older style of Fire Bending called 'Dancing Dragon'. It is said to be one of the earliest styles of fire bending, from a time much more peaceful than now." Iroh said. "I am very interested in where he learned it. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that is skilled enough to teach it properly today." Zane had returned with a trunk full of Zhao's stuff. "Thank you for aiding me in my hunt. We must part ways for now. I hope your winnings will help you on your journey." Zane bowed and Iroh and Zuko responded in turn.

"Thank you for providing an interesting lesson for my nephew. Good luck on your next hunt, Hearth Leader Zane." Iroh said.

A day later

Somewhere in Patola Mountain Range

Southern Air Temple

Zane took in the abandoned temple. It looked like the other three temples he had checked out. They might have been made differently but the one thing they all had shared was the charred body of the Fire Nation invaders and the monks that were killed before the failsafe activated. In the center of the temple was a pale white fire ball, about the size of a car, floating and giving off no heat. It gave off a vibe of danger and otherworldliness. He heard someone talking outside, coming closer.

"This is where the Failsafe would be. You! How did you get here!" Aang demand pointing his staff, which turned out to be a glider too, at Zane's back. "I had to see if they really used the failsafe, knowing that they'd be hidden until that which they were fleeing was dealt with. And they did it, now they can go any where the Fire Nation isn't until the war is over." Zane said mournfully. "Can you imagine being pulled into a pocket dimension every time your pursuer finds you, no matter what you're doing at the time?"

"That's what this failsafe is? An escape route using magic fire?" Sokka asked brandishing his club. "How do you know what it does? It was well before your time." Katara said trying to figure out how old Zane must be. "The Hearth Leader has access to all the records. The Children of the Hearth have been around been around for over 32,000 years." Zane said with a laugh. "Monk Gyatso and the elders did not die to the fire benders. Old ago took them while they waited for the threat to end, so they could return home." Zane answered a question he knew Aang had burning in his mind.

"Then why did 30% of them die? Wait! The Failsafe doesn't activate on the spot. In the time it took for it to work, the fire bender had killed a bunch of the monks who were holding them off." Sokka puzzled out. "That still doesn't explain the invading armies getting turned in blackened bones in armor." Sokka said out loud. "Well thought out. You are a quick thinker when you try. The failsafe burns the 'enemy' after transporting the users away. These flames will burn until they are no longer needed." Zane filled in the blanks.

A tan and brown winged lemur gilded to Zane and chattered away. Zane was the only one to understand what he was saying "you smell like food. You got any fruit?" the creature said. Zane gave it a large peach. It was snatched up then the flying lemur guided over to Aang to perch on his shoulder as he ate the peach. "I have some food if you guys are hungry?" Zane asked them. Between their distrust of him and the hunger, their hunger won the argument.

It took ten minutes to get a fire going and roast some fruit on sticks for everyone. "So, you were asked to hunt down and humiliate a rule breaker by an owl librarian before sending them to the Spirit World alive? Talk about harsh punishment. Remind me not to eat in the library." Sokka said with his mouth full. "That's the long and short of it. Wan Shi Tong is one of the more long-lived friends of the Children of the Hearth. We are like minded with our desire to protect history from being forgotten." Zane said amused at Sokka's summarizing. "Does the library have bending scrolls?" Katara asked with a hunger for knowledge. Zane laughed. "Indeed, it does but you are unlikely to find it that easily. Wan Shi Tong finds it more rewarding to work for the knowledge you seek." Zane pulls out a blue scroll and gives it to her. "This is a water bending scroll I bought from pirates just the other day. It details the water whip technique. I was going to give it to Wan Shi Tong, but He'll get it when you use it as payment to look at his collection."

"Thank you. I will make sure to mention you when we find Wan Shi Tong's Library." Katara said putting the scroll away. "Aang we will meet again soon. There is someone I need to talk to in the Spirit World. Call it a favor for one of your past lives. Good luck mastering the elements." Zane left them to their food. "For some reason I feel happier." Aang said. "Maybe it's you pastlife or whatever that is listening to what he said." Sokka said waving his hand in a 'mystical' gesture.

A few days later

The Spirit World

Koh's Tree

Zane entered the dark hollow of the tree and stared into the darkness as a scuttling of legs was heard. He traveled down many stairs and was in a wide 'room' with roots on the roof and walls. "Welcome, child of the hearth." A deep inhuman voice said as spirit with a centipede body and an 'eye' that 'blinked' revealing a different face each time. Koh the Face Stealer had a wide collection of faces. Human, animal, spirit, all stolen to get closer to his estranged mother, The Mother of Faces.

"Hello Koh. I need information on the whereabouts of the Aye-aye spirit." Zane said with fear of his face being taken. His face was not made by Koh's mother, so, Koh didn't want it. "Oh! That is an interesting request and a pricy one too." Koh said winding around Zane inspect him. "What price do you have in mind?" Zane asked. "It's tricky but could you arrange a reunion with my mother. I miss her dearly, and we have some issues to work out. Promise that and the information is yours." Koh said amused with a hint of sincerity.

"It would be my pleasure and honor to do such a task." Zane promised. Koh looked at him hard, looking for deceit. "This is why I find you outsiders so interesting. Your faces stories none of human faces do. But yours, I've never seen a unique face like yours. You must tell me your story next time you visit." Koh said in awe. He started to explain where to find the Aye-aye spirit at a remote Spirit Oasis deep in the spirit world.

Months later

The Spirit World

Spirit Oasis

Zane whooped with joy as he slid down the mountain side into hidden valley that housed the place he was looking for. "No humans are allowed without good reason." A spirit, that looked like human sized lemur, said as Zane crashed into the river around the oasis. "Are you the one who called the first Avatar 'Stinky'?" Zane asked. The Aye-aye spirit looked surprised. "Come to the bridge so I can get a better look at you." Zane did as he was asked. "You aren't the avatar, so you much be one of her children. Took you long enough. It's been 9,929 years since your relative made that promise to visit again. So where is the promised item?" The Aye-aye spirit said waiting. "Here you go." Zane says handing over what looked like simple wooden staff. "If any unwanted being tries to force their way past you, just hit them and they will be knocked back without fail." Zane explained. "Very nice. This will let visitors relax in peace. Come and stay for a time. You did well to get here for a human." The Aye-aye spirit said letting him pass.

The tree that hung over the water was laden with head sized peaches that looked more real than normal peaches. "What kind of fruit are these?" Zane asked carefully picking one and looking it over. "They are a rare fruit you only find at springs like this one. Most spirits just call them 'spirit peaches' and they are one of the reasons I guard this place." The Aye-aye spirit said. "Sooty said they were one of the best fruits he ever ate." Zane snorted at the nickname for his relative from over ten thousand years ago. "Yeah this is one of a kind, flavor wise. He sent a seed, but we've never got it to grow. The Spirit world just has some strange combination of factors that are impossible to replicate." Zane said was a shrug and a bite of the peach.

"How did you enjoy the journey here? There are some unsavory spirits that you may have encountered." The Aye-aye spirit asked with a disdainful undertone. "You mean the walking sludge beast?" Zane said laughing. "Let's just say my ultra-stink bomb was fouler than he could stand." The Aye-aye spirit laughed "You humans can be so inventive. That foul beast has been a persistent pest for the past 2,000 years." The Aye-aye spirit said as some monkey spirits were let in. "Greetings odd human." The leader of the troupe said in a voice like rocks grinding together, grabbing a peach as the other monkey spirits waited for their turn.

The Monkey spirits took their turn and then left with the fruit without another word. "That is the most I've heard him say other than grunts or bellowing." The Aye-aye spirit said impressed leaning on his new staff. "So, they just come here, grab some peaches and leave? That is a good system for them." Zane mused. "I also ran into the Mother of Faces. She's the reason I was a month later than I planned. You wouldn't believe what she required me to do for her son's request to be fulfilled."

The Aye-aye spirit was very interested now. "Dealing with the face stealer and his mother. You are a bold human. I'm guessing his request was to talk with her. Their falling out is legendary among the spirits. To think he would act so childishly about her working so hard to give life to so many beings." The Aye-aye spirit said dismissively. Koh was just an upstart to most of the older spirits. "What task did she give you to make her give her son a second chance?" The Aye-aye spirit asked. "I was to move her emotionally." Zane smiled as Aria flew to the oasis in her full size. Aria had grown a lot over the years. From a foot-long serpentine dragon about as thick as a rope to 20-foot long serpentine dragon as thick as a redwood's trunk.

"It can't be. The Mist Dragons all vanished thousands of years ago." The Aye-aye spirit so shocked, Aria moved past him and snacked on a peach and cooed with delight. "They are hard to find but they are still around. Young Aria here moved her to tears. Not because Aria is a mist dragon, but because of the love she and I share as parent and child." Zane hugs as much of Aria's neck as he could, and she nuzzled him lovingly back. "I see. After humans hunted dragons to the brink, such a bond would touch even her heart." The Aye-aye spirit was almost speechless as her trailed a clawed 'hand' over her scales, each on being the size of a plate. "Judging by her size and lack of words, she is not even a decade old yet." The Aye-aye spirit listed. "Yes, she is working on speech but all she's done is sing and bird calls so far." Zane said patting Aria's neck reassuring her as she skulked frustrated with her lack of progress. "Don't worry dear. Your singing is comparable to Aurora the eternal queen." Aria looked at Zane with watery eyes filled with tears of love. "I'm not blowing smoke. Even if you never speak in the common tongue, your song will be legendary." Zane praises Aria coils around him in a hug.

"Truly your heart is welcoming to all races." The Aye-aye spirit praised. Zane's face goes blank as he is contacted by a spirit.

Elsewhere

Unknown place Between the Spirit World and World of Four Elements

"Greetings Heath Leader." A man with a flowing white beard and hair in a top knot wearing grab of the Fire Nation said. "Avatar Roku, why did you contact me like this." Zane asked. They were in a misty place with a cloud floor. Around them was all the avatars of the past and a glowing blue kite like amoeba spirit towering over them. "All the past Avatars and Raava herself. This must be important." Zane whistled impressed. "We have called you here to ask you to aid young Aang in the war." Roku said. "If Sozin's Comet arrives at the end of summer and the Ozai isn't defeated, Vaatu may find the world to be perfect for his grand return at the next Harmonic Conversion." Sozin's Comet was a comet came every hundred years and boosted fire bending to insane levels.

Vaatu, on the oter hand, was Raava's dark twin. Where she was peace and light, he was war and darkness. "You mean to tell me that Vaatu plans to escape? Did he whisper into the ears of Fire Lord Sozin to start this war?" Zane asked. Raava's answer was just speculation and her own observations, "Maybe he did maybe he didn't. Mortals like Sozin and those that share his ideals don't need Vaatu's poisoned honeyed words to start problems." Raava was right about that. "What do you want me to do?" Zane asked sagging. "thin the enemies' numbers. Attack them with stealth and sabotage. It will give Aang the time he needs to master the four elements. Leave Ozai for Aang to deal with." Kyoshi the fan wielding Earth Kingdom female warrior avatar said.

Kyoshi's garb was mostly greens, blacks, and A gold fan head piece. Her face paint was a base of white with red around the eyes and on her lips. "I give you permission to assume control of the Dai Li. They have become corrupt and must be reminded of their true mission." Kyoshi's voice showed her regrets clearly. "You had no idea this would happen, Avatar Kyoshi. I will head to Ba Sing Se after making a few stops. Tai and La, the moon and ocean spirits respectively, must be informed of the threat I stopped." Zane said calmly. "We understand. May your efforts bear fruits of victory." Wan, the first Avatar said draping an arm over Zane's shoulders with carefree grin. He was wearing plaining looking red and orange robes and his hair was black and unkept. His beard was trimmed to a point, and his coppery eyes showed wisdom and youthful amusement. "After all, your family has been friends with us Avatars since the beginning." Zane nodded as he felt his spirit return to his body.

Back in the Spirit World

Spirit Oasis

Only a minute had passed. "Sticky says hi." Zane says. "Nice to see he makes the time to keep in touch." The Aye-aye spirit commented as Zane and Aria grabbed a few peaches for the road. "Your welcome to visit at any time." The Aye-aye spirit said as Zane climbed on to Aria back so they could get to the Northern Water Tribe as fast as possible.

A week later

100 AG Spring

World of the Four Elements

Near the North Pole

Northern Water Tribe

As Zane neared the beautiful yet fortified city of ice, he heard people yelling and scrambling about. He flew over the wall and landed in the area where the battle class water benders trained. In this Tribe water benders were separated into to two classes. The battle class, fighting with bending, or the healer class, using water bending to heal. Pakku, the Master water bender with thinning grayish white hair, thin mustache and a full goatee, greeted Zane's arrival with a calm expression. "I have been expecting you to show up, but not riding a creature as beautiful as this." Pakku said as he and his blue fur lined parka gets drenched by Aria's annoyed blast of water.

"Aria is a female and does not like to be called 'creature' because it's rude." Zane said amused. "Noted. Would she forgive me if I give her a large tuna?" Pakku said dryly, bending the water off him. Aria perked up as Zane laughed. "She will eat almost anything if you cook it right." Aria looked at Zane with a with a look he knew. "Yes, I will make it like you want it." Zane rolled his eyes as he said this. Aria joyful bird song echoed over the city.

The Tribal Chief chuckled as he greeted Zane. Chief Arnook looked on in wonder an amusement. "To think I would see a Mist Dragon in my lifetime, and she's so excitable." Next to him was his daughter, Princess Yue. She had silver hair, unlike the normal blacks and brown of the Water tribe, in a unique hair style. Aria stopped her bird song and inspected her, smelled her, poked her and even licked her. "Aria! What did I tell you about licking things without warning? That last time you did that I had to pull the quills off your tongue!" Zane berated Aria as Yue giggled as saliva dripped off her. "What do you mean she smells and taste like the moon? How do you even know what the moon tastes like?" Zane asks after Aria make a series of sounds.

"Zane what are you doing here?" Aang asks. Aang and Katara were training under Pakku. "More importantly, who is this beautiful dragon." Katara said as she ran a hand over Aria's scales. "This is Aria. An absolute sweetheart that has a hoard that she will kill to defend. How big is it now? The size of a battleship?" Zane said and Aria cooed in agreement. Sokka ran in yelling "Where that noise coming from…" Sokka trailed off. "Sea serpent!" Then runs the same way he came just as fast. "I see Sokka is still Sokka." Zane says amused. "Good news. The Fire Nation is going to be having a bad time soon." Zane stated. "Bad news was that the moon spirit would have been killed if I didn't deal with the fool."

Chief Aenook and Princess Yue looked worried and relived. "One of my Pai Sho friends said something like that." Pakku said showing Zane a White Lotus tile briefly. "Was it the one with amazing jasmine tea?" Zane asked knowingly. "Yes, his tea is wonderful. He should open a Tea House one of these days." Pakku confirmed.

Two hours later

Northern Water Tribe Spirit Oasis

"This is the most sacred place of the Northern Water Tribe." Yue explained as she guided Zane to garden with two koi fish, one black and one white, swimming in a circle. Zane sat by the pond cross legged. "Tui and La, I have prevented a threat to Tui and wished to tell you in person." Zane said respectfully to the koi fish. The koi seemed to swim in a happier way. Zane tilted his head hearing a silent voice. "If you wish to reward me, I will accept it." Zane answered the unheard statement. A ring, made of sea green metal and set with a moonstone, was thrown out of the pond. Zane caught it and bowed after standing up. "Thank you for this gift. I will wear it with honor." Zane slid it on to his finger. "What did they give you?" Yue asked feeling the otherworldliness of the ring. "A way to find my way with only the moon to guide me." Zane said.

"You know how I 'taste' like the moon?" Yue stated with a giggle. "Yeah. Tui gave you a part of her spirit for some reason." Zane guessed. Yue nodded "When I was born, I was dying so my parents brought me here and Tui healed me, turning my hair silver." She said. "Should Tui ever die, I can heal her at the price of my life." Zane winced at this statement. Tui's 'healing' was part kindness and part insurance. "By stopping that fool, I saved you from having to give up your life." Zane said. "no wonder your father wants to throw a feast in my honor."

Yue smiled sadly. "I was wondering. How does Aria change her size so easily?" She asked as Aria draped herself around Zane's neck like a scarf in her small form. "Mist Dragons are the incretion of mist and water. Ever changing and flowing, when beings tried to hunt them the Mist Dragons escaped through the tiniest of cracks as mist. They can get as small as they want but they can't get any bigger than their normal size. Becoming water or mist is ease as breathing." Zane explained.

"What of their breath attack?" Yue asked interested. "Mist Dragons can blast water in all forms. Any thing from flesh melting hot steam to mist so cold it's near absolute zero." Zane said this in a way sent a chill down her spine. "Why did the Mist dragons leave instead of fighting like their fire breathing brethren?" Yue asked. "Fire Dragons chose to fight the humans head on because of pride or confidence in their power. Mist Dragons, on the other hand, are loners by nature. They tend to still to remote places because they find it harder for thieves to hunt them down." Zane said.

"Do they not have families?" Was her next question. "Depends on the dragon and how they are raised. Aria here was raised in a very family-oriented household. Some Mist Dragons stay with the young hatchings for a long time, others not so much. In the end, it's unclear how someone will turn out without knowing how they lived." Zane tried to explain. "I understand. You are leaving tomorrow." It was a statement. "I never said that, but you are right. Must be your woman's intuition. My wife seems to know something is up most of the time." Zane said amused.

"Did you marry her out of love or duty?" Yue asked. "Love. You have a marriage contract or something, right?" Zane said. "Yes. I wonder if I will find love in mine?" Yue said far off. "If it's who I think it is, well, I will have chat with your father before it's finalized. Hahn is only interested in climbing the ladder. As for how I know this, he tried to kiss up to me to gain favor. People like that are so annoying." Yue smiled and said softly "thank you."

Later

Midnight

Northern Water Tribe

"You wished to speak to me." Chief Arnook stated as only the night watch were still awake. "Yes, I have been looking at Hahn as a person and at his skills and found him to be a gold digger, someone who only cares about what perks he'll gain by marrying Yue. He is skilled but he is not someone you want as Chief." Zane explained as the full moon shined down on them. "I see. I had hoped he wouldn't be so shallow but there are little other choices." Chief Arnook said.

"call it off and wait for someone better to come up. She isn't going to become the moon spirit, so you have time." Zane offered. "I think I know such a person." Chief Arnook said. "Thank you for your advice. You are headed to Earth Kingdom?" Zane nodded "I have to clean up a mess that has been around for far too long." Zane said as he headed to bed.

The next morning

Just before sunrise

Northern Water Tribe

"Watch over this pipe fox. Feed her a star candy a day and she will be content." Zane said to Aang as one of Zane's pipe foxes tucked herself into Aang's robes. Aang looked at the pouch of candy he was given and tried a candy. "That's too sweet!" Aang said coughing. "My pipe foes have a monstrous sweet tooth. Each candy has so much sugar it's not safe for a human to eat. Be sure to warn Sokka." Zane said climbing on Aria's back after she returned to full size. "I will keep her safe." Aang said as Aria took off.

A weeks later

100 AG Spring

Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se

Upper Ring Royal Palace

Zane stared down the Grand Secretariat, Long Feng. He was stopping Zane from meeting the Earth King, not knowing that was not who Zane wanted to 'talk' to. "The Earth King is a busy man. I can handle any issue you may have." Long Feng said in his 'nice' voice. Deep down knew that he was the poison choking this city. The Lower Ring housed anyone who wasn't rich enough for the Middle Ring, and it was not a nice place. The Middle Ring was where merchants and other middle-class folks had it better than the poor but not as good as the rich. The Upper Ring was where the Rich lived the life of luxury if they don't cause trouble for Long Feng, the current head of the Dai Li.

The Dai Li agents silently circled them. "That's alright. I'll just tell him after I deal with the issue." Zane said. Long Feng didn't react outwardly. "And what issue is that?" He asked ready to give the command for the Dai Li to capture Zane. "'Gaia gives the Hearth the striking stones with her blessing'. Take Long Feng to his cell." Zane commended and Dai Li did so. Long Feng laughed. "They do not take orders from you. Take this fool to his cell." Long Feng was shocked when he was the one in metal restraints and bound in such a way, he couldn't earth bend.

"You are traitors!" He yelled at the Dai Li agents as he was lifted. "The founder has given her blessing and Dai Li obey her commend." One of the Dai Li agents said taking Long Feng to his cell in the hidden Dai Li base, made of all metal to boot. "Begin to help the Lower Ring people. That part of the city needs to be fixed. Ask builders if you need help fixing the houses and stuff." Zane ordered and the Dai Li obeyed.

Zane pushed opened the doors and started down the hallway to the Throne room.

Ten minutes later

Royal Palace Throne Room

Sitting on the throne was a man wearing the garb of the Earth Kingdom royal family. He had reading glasses sitting the bridge of his nose and next to him was something Zane never expected to see in this world, a normal non-hybrid animal. It was a large brown bear wearing a yellow tonic and hat. "Hello. What issue can I help you with?" The 52nd Earth King, Kuei asked as his pet bear lumbered over to Zane. "This is Bosco, a rare creature called a 'bear'." Kuei explained as Bosco sniffed Zane intently.

Bosco's bear sounds sounded like words to Zane. "Do you have a fruit pie on you? I can smell it." Bosco asked gruffly. "Fine, but you have to share it." Zane said taking out two plates, some silverware, and a mixed berry pie. He used fire bending to warm it up, then cut a third of it out. He split that third of the pie in half on each plate and passed one to the Earth King. Bosco took the pie tin and started chewing down.

"I apologize about Bosco. He has a small sweet tooth. This is good pie." Kuei said. "My daughter cooked for me to have on the road. Earth King Kuei, I was tasked by the founder of the Dai Li to make changes to how they were running." Zane explained, getting to the point. "How is that possible? The founder was the Avatar Kyoshi, who is long dead. Where is Long Feng?" Kuei asked looking around. "You will find that the dead have a lot to tell when you have the means to talk to them. Your adviser was requested to retire because of questionable choices he made to 'keep the peace'." Zane explained.

"What changes you have planned?" Kuei asked. "For one, the zoo you have in Ba Sing Se is getting cramped. We can move the animals to better pens in another part of the city. Another issue is the Lower Ring's housing has fallen on disrepair but easily fixable without too high costs." Zane listed. "You bring up good points. Did you order these changes already?" Kuei asked worried. "Worry not, it is happening at this very moment. The other important issue is the war that is going on." Zane explained the war in detail and the king was shocked Long Feng betrayed him so.

"You may have saved Ba Sing Se from crumbling in on itself. Make sure any refuges are treated with respect and kindness." Kuei ordered and Zane nodded "I will gladly do that."

A few weeks later

100 AG Spring

Ba Sing Se

Monorail station

Zane was overseeing the refugees' entry into the city via the stone monorail. He was passing out hot tea using fire bending to keep it warm. He was just giving tea to Iroh and Zuko who were in cloths that looked like the kind Earth Kingdom common folk wore. He felt a glare at his back from a dark-haired teen with a pair of hook sword drawn. Next to him was calm faced kid with his face shaded by a ragged conical hat, Longshot, and a short tomboyish girl with two red stripes painted on each cheek, Smellerbee. "There is no need to draw your swords here. Please wait to air your grievances until we are in a less crowded place." Zane said not even looking at the teen's face that it contorted with rage.

"Jet listen to him. If you fight here the guards will get you in an instant." The tomboy said to the hook sword user. "Fine. This isn't over." Jet said sheathing his swords. "You dealt with that problem well." Iroh said and introduced Zuko and himself by their fake names. "What brings you to Ba Sing Se?" Zane asked. "The Fire Nation tried to imprison us, but we escaped and hope that we'll be safer here." Iroh explained.

"What a surprise. The Blue fire wielding princess, who's beauty doesn't match her personality, hates me too. Claimed I was harboring the Avatar and tried to bend lightning at me. Her aim sucks because all she hit was the metal throwing knifes around me." Zane said amused. "Lightning can be quite fickle. Where did those knives come from?" Iroh asked and Zuko was listening intently. "Azula had a bubbly acrobat lady and a gloomy faced knife thrower female friend. I think their names were Ty Lee and Mai. Mai had 'knives for days' as some would say." Iroh nodded. "I see. A master of the hidden weapon technique, a dangerous foe that requires a lot of dodging to survive unharmed."

"That old guy sounds like he knows the Fire Bender." Jet said in a low voice. "I know I've heard of this 'Zane' guy before. On one of the wanted boards, I think. Something about don't fight him." Smellerbee said in the same low voice. "You mean the Fire Nation thinks he's dangerous?" Jet asked then smirked "When I take him down, I will be feared." Longshot looked at Jet worried.

An hour later

A field inside Ba Sing Se

"Alright kid, what is your problem with me?" Zane asked. Jet started talking about revenge by killing every fire bender. "Stop that train of thought. One, if one type of bender is killed off, random people will be gifted that bending power to restore the balance." Zane said making Jet stop and stare. Zane continued explaining why it was a bad idea. "two, to kill all the fire benders, you'd need to kill off my family and that is a bad idea." Jet, Longshot and Smellerbee trembled as an aura of danger and malice radiated from Zane. "So how about you help me end this war?" The aura was gone like it was never there as Zane smiled. "What kind of help do you need?" Smellerbee asked carefully. "Stealth and silent take down type help. You will be sent to deal with smaller targets and get paid appropriately. You won't be alone, and I will try to make sure you live to get your payment. You can back out or refuse to take a mission if you feel it is too dangerous at any time. Do we have a deal?" Zane said.

"You got it in writing?" Jet asked. Zane wordlessly handed over a contract that was in terms anyone could understand. "You can hold on to that if you want." Zane comments. The three discuss softly to each other. Zane waited ten minutes from them to reach a verdict. "We agree to these terms if you promise to send us on missions that are worthwhile." Jet says putting a piece a of stew in his mouth and chowing on the end of it.

"Prove your skills on the easy ones and you will get harder missions." Zane said. "I do apologize in advance about the state of the Lower Ring. It's being fixed right now, so the housing space is limited." Zane walked away leaving them stunned. "The Dragon of Wraith. That's who he is, the most dangerous fire bender ever to walk this earth." Smellerbee said remembering the 'wanted poster' in detail. "You mean the person who discovered how to heal with fire bending?" Jet asked realizing how badly he would have been beaten.

Elsewhere

Ba Sing Se

Upper Ring

Zane's home in the city

Stable in back

Zane started the next healing session on Appa, Aang's flying bison. "those animal smugglers teated you so poorly, big guy." Zane said soothingly as a greenish flame covored hands were pressed to the many wounds on Appa. A week ago, the Dai Li had busted an illegal smuggling ring and Appa was among the 'stock'. After a week of healing the rest of the animals, Zane was finally starting on Appa. "Aang will be here to find you after the sand benders stole you with that pesky sandstorm tactic. We both agree he will be happier if you are healed up." Zane commented as each wound disappeared without even a scar left.

He was drained after a while and Appa only had some scars left to heal. "I'll finish healing you tomorrow." Appa licked Zane, drenching him. "Your welcome." Zane left to take a bath.

A few days later

Zane's house

Stable in back

"I've got great news!" Zane said. "Aang just stopped a giant drill from breaking the inner wall. In a matter of days, he will be here and will over the moon when he sees you!" Zane listened to Appa's grunting. "Over the moon means very happy or excited about something. How about we surprise him? He comes here and you can see how high he flies into the air when he sees you. Deal?" Appa grunts in agreement.

Clumps of hair started to fall off Appa. "You're shedding. I have to get the heavy-duty brush for this." Zane commented as he got a brush for horses.

The next day

Zane's House

Stable in Back

Zane was sleeping as he leaned against Appa and Aria was in her small form napping on Appa's head. "I found Appa and you wouldn't believe who's with him." Toph Beifong, the blind earth bender teen who could 'see' via seismic waves in the ground, said. Aang, Sokka, Katara, and even Momo paused as they peeked in. Zane was covered in Appa's hair as was most of the floor. "He must have been working all day." Aang said. "How do you know that?" Sokka asked. "The hair still smells fresh. And Zane is covered like he didn't move that far." Aang explained.

The pipe fox Zane has loaned to Aang flew over to Zane with grin and tickled his nose wit her tail. Zane's nose twitched then he sneezed, sending hair everywhere. "I'm awake!" Zane said blinking. "Oh. Hello Aang. I believe this is yours, one brushed and happy flying bison." Zane said as her swept all the hair into a bag and stashed it away. "How did you find him? We looked for a few weeks. Oh yeah, that owl guy says thank you for the water bending scroll." Sokka said. Zane paused and sniffed Sokka's breath. "You drank the cactus juice. How was it?" Zane said. "judging by how he acted, very trippy." Katara said flatly.

"How's the metal bending going?" Zane asked Toph. "Slow. Making a new way of bending is harder. From what I heard, you know what I mean, Mr. healing fire." Toph quipped. "wait. Metal bending? Fire bending healing? I've never heard of that. Even a hundred years ago those were impossible." Aang commented. "Well I was traveling to Be Sing Se, I stopped by a Badgermole nest and met Toph, who claimed to be the world's greatest Earth Bender. So, I said 'If you can make that claim then you can bend iron'. She fired back with 'Heal with fire bending, hearth poker' and that is how things got rolling." Zane showed them the greenish healing fire.

"ok, how can you bend iron?" Sokka asked. "The basic idea is to bend the impurities in the metal but it's a work in progress." Toph explained. "impurities are what?" Sokka asked. "Think of ice. The hazy patches are imperfections in an otherwise clear ice." Zane explained. Sokka got that. "I met an Earth Bender who leaned he could bend lava by mistake. He's being trained not to cause lava geysers under people's feet. Not everyone is fireproof as I am." Zane said this with a straight face as they look at his shocked.

"I am so glad you aren't the enemy." Sokka stated with a shiver. "How's Yue?" Zane asked Sokka. "She's doing good and her new betrothed is a nice guy." Sokka said a little sad. "You weren't asked?" Zane asked shocked. "I was but someone else better suited for her asked her directly. He's not too bad personality wise and he really loves her for her." Sokka said. "I'm impressed. You got someone else on your mind? Perhaps a fan wielding warrior?" Zane said amused.

"You met Suki?" Sokka asked "She's leading a group of Kyoshi Warriors to help the Earth King here in Ba Sing Se. There are a lot of issues to fix and we need all the manpower we can get." Zane sighed. "There is something that has been bugging me. Why is there a statue of a frog labeled 'Solitract' in the Spirit Library?" Aang asked changing the subject. "Ah, my odd and lonely friend the Solitact. It is a living plane of existence that cannot be in this universe and same is true for us in its home. It likes the form of frog and using the voice of someone who shared it's love of frogs. It loves to contact me and hear about things it can't experience firsthand." Zane said sadly. Alice Gate worked well as a 'phone' for the Solitract.

"You have the strangest friends." Sokka says summoning up what everyone was thinking. "I believe you have places to be." Zane says not even fazed. They left with Appa in tow to see the sights and relax before they moved on.

Later that day

Ba Sing Se

Upper Ring

Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop

Zane noted the flavor of the tea and asked the waiter to talk to the owner. Iroh turned out to be the owner. "You finally got your own tea shop." Zane said with a smile. "Yes, you and many others have said I should. The opportunity just fell into my lap one day." Iroh said proudly. "How's your nephew doing?" Zane asked spotting Zuko waiting tables. "He is adjusting to this lifestyle. I plan to take him and a 'friend' to visit your teachers." Iroh said. "Ah. The day of Black Sun is coming soon. I'd hate for it to put a damper on your plans." Zane said. "I planned for that. My eccentric friend wants to meet you the next week after that." Iroh said. "I'll meet him then." Zane stated.

A few months later

World of the Four Elements

100 AG summer

A week after Day of Black Sun

Earth Kingdom

Omashu

Zane was having a feast with the 'mad king Bumi'. He looked like an old man with a bent hunched over back and a crazy look in his eyes. "So, you are the ringleader of the stealthy raiders on the Fire Nation. Not that your help isn't welcome." Bumi cackled. "Well you took back your city on your own last week. The Fire Nation is weakened but the Comet is days away." Zane pointed out. Bumi had a gleam in his eye as he said, "Fire Lord Ozai has crowned himself the Phoenix King and have his mad daughter the throne."

"He did WHAT?" Zane said stiffly. "That brat dares to use that as his title! I will not let the war monger taint Aurora's good name with this stunt!" Zane declared. "And who is Aurora?" Bumi asked. "Queen Aurora, the eternal avian ruler of the bird kingdom, the original immortal Phoenix. Screw letting Aang deal with Ozai! I'm ending this war myself." Zane says firmly.

A few days later

100 AG End of Summer

Somewhere in the Earth Kingdom

"You challenge me to An Agni Kai" Ozai said angry and condescendingly as the war blip he had been blast fire from was destroyed. Sozin's Comet made fire bending stronger by a hundred-fold. "You may be powerful, but you pissed off the wrong dragon." Zane said. Behind Zane a dragon covered in black scales faded to a glowing dark red. "Ozai, meet my wraith personified." Zane said wit ha hard edge to his voice. The dragon snarled with a smooth as silk yet dark voice that promised pain, "So, this is the ant that wears her name had paints it negatively. I will enjoy teaching it a lesson."

Zane's Wraith noted the other war balloons and blasted all but one out of the sky with his fire breath. This enraged Ozai to the limit and Zane just took the attack not caring to hide how useless it was on him. "How? I am greater than everyone!" Ozai roared in disbelief and anger. "You know me as the Dragon of Wraith, but I have another name. I am the Bird of the Hearth. No fire will ever harm me. I should kill you but Aang wants you alive." Zane said fire bending flames so hot it was to bright to look at. Ozai showed he was a master fire bender as he flew himself away from the blast with fire bending (flying like Ironman does).

The many pillars that littered the area melted and pooled into molten rock. Ozai stared as he fled each blast from Zane and the dragon. His thoughts were full of disbelief as his plan to win the Hundred-year war crumbled away like the rock the melted before Zane's flames. Little did he know, Azula was being defeated by Zuko at that very moment. An ember caught his pants on fire as he fell towards the molten death below. Zane gripped his foot at the last moment as runes snaked their way across his body. "Your life is spared but bending is forever lost to you. Reflect on this in the remaining years of your life." Zane said coldly.

With that the War was over. Zane let his Wraith return to his soul content with the devastation it caused for now.

A few days later

World of the Four Elements

An Earth Kingdom town

"Sokka, you dropped this." Zane threw the black iron sword he found after the battle. "My space sword!" Sokka said happily. "Good job with the metal bending, Toph. I'm guessing finding the meteorite he made into a sword help you." Zane said. "You are looking at the first metal bender." Toph said smugly. "Where you headed next? Fire Lord Zuko, yeah, they appointed him quickly, said he's going to look for his mother. He said you told him where she was but not who she was currently?" Aang asked thankful that Zane spared the warmonger. "The Mother of Faces gave her a way to hide from Ozai. She agreed to let her have her old face back if she wants it." Zane says leaning on a wall that shifts starting a chain reaction that ends with a man's cart being crushed. "MY CABBEGES!" the owner of the cart on the other side of town yells.

"That guy has the worst luck." Sokka says. "Did you hear? The Air Benders are free at last." Aang said grateful. "Yes. I felt it happen. My friends, I must leave for home. It's been a tiring war." Zane said departing.

A month later

Land of Departure

"Your pregnant?" Zane asked Aqua as she showed him the positive test. "two weeks along. It explained the oddities." Aqua said smiling. "Peanut butter covered pickles on pumpernickel bread, yuck!" Zane said with a laugh. "Oh, hush you." Aqua swatted him on the arm as he hugged her lovingly. "This means no more missions for you." Zane said with kiss. "with all the work you've done, there's not much to worry about."

"I will watch her with my life" The Tsuchinoko said dutifully. "You are quite brave for a squeaking snake." Aqua said amused. "For course! If all else fails, my bite will cripple the foolish foes!" The Tsuchinoko said with pride. "Good because I found Obelius Laskaris. Problem is he's hibernating is a place crawling with danger. No place for you to be." Zane said firmly. Aqua huffed. "You must take Sakura with you." She countered. "Fine. Take it easy." Zane said rolling his eyes.

As Zane walked into the hallway, he got a call. "Hello? How did you get this number?" Zane asked. A male voice answered as calm as a still pool. "My name is Giorno Giovanna. I run a group that is interested in offering our services to you for a price." Zane just as calm asked, "What are you called and what's your price?" Giorno sounded pleased as he answered "Passione." Zane stilled as his mind raced. Giorno continued. "The price will depend of the transaction, but it will be a fair price."

"So, the Stand using Mafia is willing to help someone who dismantled countless group in the criminal underground for a job to job price deal? The question is why? The last boss tried to force me to work for him, he fled empty handed." Zane asked. "Yes, it is in his notes. Your stand has nothing to do with your flames and there is the matter of the 'bomber's heartbeat jar'? It takes skill to keep a disembodied heart beating. Skills of the magical kind." Zane smiled as he heard that. "I see. You need means of keeping someone alive. That I can provide. We'll talk more another time. I have a lost family member find." Zane said. "You won't be disappointed." Giorno said ending the call.

A few days later

Pokemonverse

Sinnoh region

Unnamed island

"These ruins seem to date back at least five hundred years. What do you think of this?" Cynthia, the blonde-haired Sinnoh Pokémon champion, wearing her normal outfit, asked. Steven Stone, the blue haired steel type master and Champion of the Hoenn region, wearing a suit, was just as puzzled by the mural. "It looks like a crack opened and a Bronzer of unusual size appeared from it." He moves to another part of it saying, "It shows the Bronzer defending the people with flames but That pokemon can't learn flamethrower. How odd." Pyramid King Brandon, the Battle Frontier member, wearing a green jacket and pants with brownish gray hair pulled way vines uncovering the image of people praying to a fire and a massive Bronzong behind it. "Compared to the humans this pokemon must be ten meters tall. This is much larger than any Bronzong ever recorded. If we can find a way into the ruins, then maybe we can learn more." Brandon said amazed.

"Yes. That is the next logical step." Zane's voice startled them, and they whirled with pokeball in hand. "Oh Zane. I didn't expect you to come." Steven Stone said relaxing. "This is Zane Laskaris and his daughter, Sakura. I asked them to come here to give some insight." They relaxed. Zane drinks in the ruins and how intact it was. Zane tapped a spot and an encrypted message in Greek lettering blazed to life. "Thought so. This is the place." Zane said out loud but more to himself.

"What do you mean 'this is the place'?" Cynthia asked perplexed as Zane walked to fountain that seemed to be endlessly flowing. "A relative of mine 'fell' into a 'crack' not unlike an ultra-wormhole but much more dangerous and unpredictable. Those 'cracks' tend to have 'interesting' effects on the victim." Zane says as he searches the floor around the fountain. "It can spit you out whenever and wherever it wants. Here we are!" Zane finds another message.

He walks to the center of a circle with a spiral of Greek letters that said, 'spell the lady's name and the path to the hearth opens.'. "You four stand next to me." The three trainers and Sakura do so as Zane tapped letters. As he finished the floor glowed, teleporting them into the ruins.

Inside the Ruins

They were in total darkness, standing in a small room connect to a hallway with unlit torches. "don't open any door. There are very likely traps." Zane warned taking out a normal lantern and lighting it. "This must be a hidden chamber where they kept the important things." Cynthia mused as they walked past door after door. "Without a doubt. The real prize is at the Hearth Room." Zane said.

a half hour later

Ruins Hearth Chamber

"That is a huge Bronzong." Sakura said staring at the ten-meter-tall bell like pokemon that slept before the hearth, still burning after 500 years. "Meet Obelius Laskaris. He was once human, but things happened. He's been mission for centuries. Yet here he is, being a pillar of strength for people he didn't even know yet." Zane said as they felt a presence pressing down on them. "If this used to be human, how his he still alive?" Steven asked as Zane became unresponsive at the same time as glow of psychic energy covered the giant pokemon.

"Zane!" Cynthia said alarmed. It was Sakura who stopped her from touching him. "don't! a mental connection is being established." Sakura said. "let's look around the room as we wait." Brandon suggested. The walls showed show the giant pokemon shifted the weather to keep the corps strong and healthy year after year. When the people left the land, before an earthquake turned it into an island, the pokemon fell into a deep sleep. "This Xatu here seems to be telling Obelius about the future. It seems to be an angry bird. That would explain why he decided to stay and slept for a few centuries." Brandon said as his voice echoes across the huge chamber. "This wall has a 'heart' being given for safe keeping or maybe an offering? It looks like the core of a Magearna." Cynthia says on the other end of the chamber.

"Safe keeping for sure. There's this shadow that is reaching for the Soul-Heart but is stopped." Steven says interpreting another part of the wall. "There's a Xatu again and a 'priestess' with starry flames around her holding the Soul-Heart'. Maybe another vision of the future?"

Dream World

Zane was sitting by a hearth with the figure of Obeluis before his trip through the void. He was a massive man of 7' 5" and crimson hair that hung about his shoulders. "I failed my mission. It was just out of reach. How can they forgive me for this failure?" Obeluis said in a mournful and rumbling voice. Tears spilled down his face from eye that were of the deepest blue. Zane sighed. "You didn't fail! I found it when I came looking for you! Suck it up and get out of your pit of self-pity!" Zane punched him in the head.

Obeluis finally looked at Zane. "It's you. You returned; we searched but never found you." Obeluis said shocked. "You are the Hearth Leader? And you found it?" He trapped Zane in a crushing bearhug. "Truly Lady Hestia is the kindest goddess!" He started to slip back to self-pity. "I am not a man anymore. I'm just a bell now." Zane's eyebrow twitched. "That least you are alive! We were looking for your corpse! Who cares if you are the largest Bronzong ever to live? You survived an ambush that should have killed you, then you blindly jumped into a crack in time and space!" Obeluis was taken aback by Zane's rant.

"You aren't how the history books describe." Obeluis comments. "Yes, I'm quite human. Just because I am among the few that Hestia visits the most doesn't mean I'm some messiah. I am the Bird of the Hearth, her champion. If she wanted a 'chosen one', she would have picked someone with a better temper." Zane grumbled. Obeluis laughed. "That old Xatu was right. A Wrathful bird has come and awakened me. He was right about the Soul-Heart needing to be protected from evil. Now where can I find a 'friend of the void'?" Obeluis rambled.

"I really hate when psychics make predictions that are vaguely correct." Zane said annoyed. Obeluis laughed. "That old Xatu was the weather bird. He read the currents looking for things that would make the years crops be ruined. Storms, droughts, and floods were what he looked for mainly. Rarely did the Legendary Dragon of Time, Dialga, would give him a glimpse of important things. Like the one I talked about, my arrival, and the earthquake that forced the people to flee in land." Obeluis explained. "That makes sense. What's this about a Soul-Heart?" Zane asked.

"over 500 years ago, there was an alchemist that created a mechanical pokemon called Magearna. He created two of them, one for the royal princess, and another as a companion for the first one. He knew the princess would die at some point so that's why he made two. These mythical pokemon were lifeless metal dolls, so he made them souls." Obeluis explained. "I don't know how he did it, but when the Soul-Heart is inserted Magearna comes to life. He gave the first to the princess and she was happy. But there was a foul man who wanted the other Soul-Heart, so he stole the second body not knowing that Soul-Heart was entrusted to me by the alchemist himself. Xatu warned him in advance and here we are."

"Well the body is safe. Lillie will be happy to see it wakened." Zane commented. "Tell me what I missed." Obeluis requested and Zane started to explain everything.

Two hours later

Inside the ruins

"He most have had a lot to talk about." Steven mused. "We've searched the rooms and found nothing. This appears to be a dorm type place." Brandon said. "When they fled the earthquake, they took everything with them." Save for the Soul-Heart, but that was given, not that they knew where it was. "The people that lived here were farmers. They traded crops for anything they needed. Likely they were a nomadic group before settling here." Cynthia theorized as they traded notes.

"It's a shame it was just a small settlement. It does confirm that Xatu was used to predict the weather that long ago." Steven said looking on the bright side. Zane stretched as he 'woke up'. "That took longer than expected." Zane said. "Sorry about the wait. Family reunions tend to take time." They chuckle at his words. "It's fine. We collected all the data we needed." Steven said as Obeluis shook off the mental cobwebs and started to float. "Greetings friend of the void. Deliver this heart to the sleeping vessel, please." Obeluis telepathic said floating a softball sized white orb with a half blue and half red heart outlined with thick gold lines and four diamonds.

"I will carry out this duty with honor." Sakura said formal. She put the Soul-Heart away for safe keeping and hugged as much of Obeluis's wide bell like body as she could. "Welcome back Uncle Obeluis!" She said warmly. They were teleported out of the ruins.

Outside the ruins

"This the first sunset I've seen in a long time." Obeluis tells them as the sun sinks in the sky. As the last rays of light vanish, Steven Stone realizes something important. "There was rumors of an 'army of angry spirits' that come out at night to attack intruders." He says as eyes appeared from the shadows. Gaseous pokemon Ghastly (a purplish black ball of gas with a face), Haunter (a purple spiky head with disembodied claw like hands), and Ganger (a poltergeist looking purple pokemon with a spikey back and a creepy toothy grin) were stopping them from getting to the boats on the beach. From the forest, Phantump (a tree stump ghost pokemon) and its evolved form, Trevenant (An Ent like ghost pokemon) created a wall of angry trees.

And from around the ruins, Yamask (A small ghost pokemon carrying a life like human mask), and its evolved form, Cofagrigus (an animated gold coffin with a grinning face) cut off the last escape route. "That's quite an army of ghost pokemon." Zane comments as Cynthia, Steven and Brandon looked ready to call out one of their pokemon. The ghost pokemon's angry expressions changed to one of shock and joy when they noticed Obeluis's massive form. They kneeled to him as the humans were intrigued by this odd turn of events.

"could these pokemon be the reborn spirts of the farmers that lived here?" Brandon asked. (Some ghost pokemon are said to be human souls reincarnated) Zane laughed heartily. "Brother Obeluis, you have quite a family here and I can't make you comeback with us after seeing this. You have my blessing as Hearth Leader to stay here. Just make sure not to miss the meetings." The ghost pokemon cheered around them. "I've got what I needed here. Good luck with your research." Zane says as he and Sakura depart for the mainland.

A few days later

Pokemonverse

Northern Border of the Kanto Region

Tree of Beginning

Zane and Sakura picked their way up the living rock formation that looked like a tree. The blue crystals that doted the area in and around the Tree of Beginning here flashing in way like it was talking but not the same. "Yes, I know that we weren't exactly invited to talk to Mew, but she's more likely to teleport us somewhere as a prank!" Zane argued with the Tree. They reached an open area that had grass, trees, a lake and there were pokemon everywhere, some were living fossil pokemon.

Three golem-like pokemon, one made of ice, one made of metal, and one made of rock, watching the humans. These were Regice, Registeel, and Regirock, they guarded the tree from intruders but for some reason they were don't to let these two go unhindered. They lacked faces, having 'dots' for their 'face'. They were discussing how this human was 'talking' with the tree. It defies logic and they were beings driven mainly by logic.

"What do you mean Mew is off somewhere else?" They heard Zane yell at a crystal annoyed. "She can at least give me the curtesy of meeting with me after she turned Obeluis into a pokemon for her own amusement, not that I'm ungrateful for that. He would have not made it through the void alive without her help. So where is she so I can thank her?" Zane was quite firm as he said this. Ah, this made sense. They were off-worlders, off-worlders did not conform to logic.

They watched as Zane put his bare hand on the crystal as it glowed softly. "It was nice to see you again, Tree. Can I show my daughter around before we head for Spear Pilar?" Zane said with a sigh. The Crystal flashed and the Regis received the command to give the Off-Worlders a tour of the whole place. This was odd but they listened and obeyed.

A week later

Pokemonverse

Sinnoh Region

Mt. Coronnet

Spear Pilar

Zane looked around the ruins that are said to be the center point of this world. "Ok. Mew isn't here and there's a flute sitting on stone tile with a triangle on it. This just screams 'IT'S A TRAP!', Right light sparrow?" Zane asked are they weighed the choices. "It looks like the Azure Flute, the instrument that opens the 'door' to the Hall of Origins. Risk it and try to play it?" Sakura offered. "Your mom might get mad at me for this, but you are the one who plays the flute better." Zane said.

Hall of Origin

After she played, they were teleported to a white hall with marble pillars that were mainly white with a little gold to them. Around them was every legendary and mythical pokemon having a meeting. "Good timing. We were just about to talk about you." Arceus, the Alpha pokemon, said in a warm male voice. Mew, the origin of all pokemon, created the white equestrian pokemon with a gold wheel around its midsection. Then Arceus created the world and all parallel versions of it.

"YEAH! Music man is here!" The hyper childish pink floating psychic cat known as Mew said cheerfully as she zoomed about. "That's the mother of all pokemon? She's so immature." Sakura asked floored. "Are you sure she's one of the most dangerous beings you encountered?" The pokemon around her were amused at this question. Mew may be childish, but she was a powerhouse when she felt like it. "Lady Mew's prowess in battle rarely is ever used for her desire to 'play' is much greater." Cobalion, the leader of the Swords of Justice, said with a chuckle. He looked look like a noble looking blue stag with a tuft of hair like a cravat near his neck.

"Oh. She's like a less likely to anger Fae creature." Sakura said. The small green time traveling pixie pokemon, Celebi giggled. "She is much nicer than the Fae. We observe other worlds from time to time." Celebi had answered Sakura's next question before she even formed it in her mind. "Right, time travel." Sakura said amused. Celebi giggled as she floated near Sakura's head and placed a flower crown on her. "Looks great on you." Celebi said with approval. "These meetings get so boring that we find ways to make them more interesting."

Zane snorted. "I know that feeling. The Children of Hearth meetings can be just as bad if not worse. Luckily, interesting things come up at the right times." Zane said amused. "So, what required me to come here?" They shuffle uneasily. Finally, the massive red kaiju pokemon that is Groudon answered. "After your ascension to be the lesser god of grief and wraith, you gained the interest of a couple of the stricter legendary pokemon. The red tweety bird of death over there wanted to kill you on the spot before you cause more trouble for the other beings of Death." Yveltal, the red eagle like pokemon, gave Groudon a hateful glare but stayed silent.

"I, on the other hand, am weary of you." The tiny green scale like pokemon with a red belly said. Its blue bellied brother nodded in agreement saying, "your power may unsent the balance in a dangerous way." Zane looked at the two pokemon. These were the 'brains' of Zygarde, also called Zygarde cores. "I have only gone to that form a few times and only one of them to fight someone. Unlike you two, who are one being spilt into two brains and a lot of cells, Damon and I merge into a new being. It's very weird for us." Zane stated.

"Can I see it? PLEASE!" Mew said rapidly pleading. Zane rolled his eyes as data cocooned him. They felt the pressure as Daemon (Ultra) emerged. "How do you eat? Does it burn up in you fire section?" Mew asked poking Daemon (Ultra) Flame like midsection. "I have never eaten so I have no idea." Daemon (Ultra) said as he grasped Mew lightly and moved her away. "I have no need to fight anyone in this world because of two reasons. One, Zane has enough power, skill, and a good team of pokemon to combat you legendries. And Two, I don't want to ruin this world. So long." Daemon (Ultra) said as Zane returned to human form. "See what I mean? He's so angry that he's calm as can be. I know he's kind of me, but with Daemon in the mix." Zane said. "He is very off putting. Want to visit a magma pool I made? It's the perfect temperature for fire types to soak in." Groudon asked with a grin.

"I'd love to." Zane said grinning as well. They leave the Hall of Orgins along with the other fire type legendries and mythical pokemon. "He needs to relax." Sakura told Celebi. "Oh yes he does. Aqua is carrying his child and he's stressing out over what to name her." Sakura blinked "A little sister?" Celebi noded. "Yep. Can't tell you anymore because of spoilers" Celebi said amused as Sakura smiled and thanked her. "That's great news! Maybe He'll bring her to the Tree of Beginning to visit me later." Mew said happily. "Is Father stronger than the legendries?" Sakura asked curious.

Arceus chuckled good natured. "No, he not but he's strong enough to fight the strongest legendary pokemon and live to talk about how he was beaten after a good fight. We are legendary for a reason. Even with his team, Rayquaza, if he held nothing back and became Mega Rayquaza, would defeat him and destroy the area they fought." Sakura puzzled this over and asked, "There is laws that limit how much power you guys use unless something extremely disastrous needs to be stopped, right?" Mew beamed as she clapped her paws together. "Bingo! You got it in one. Nowadays Humans banding tighter with a little help from us is enough to stop the problems." She said cheerful.

"What about the time that Rayquaza had to use Dragon Ascent on Groudon and Kyorge because humans caused them to use Primal Reversion and almost doom the world with insane amounts of sun and rain?" Sakura pointed out. The blue whale like kaiju pokemon looked embarrassed as Rayquaza, a green serpentine dragon, laughed. "They fight all the time. So much so that I'm the only one that can knock some sense into them. It's useful having the mega evolution item in one's body at all times." Rayquaza was grinning as he said this. "That's right! You swallowed a small sample of the raw 'mega' meteorite. That's very practical given your home in the ozone layer." Rayquaza enjoyed the praise Sakura gave him.

"You picked up a transformation just like your father. One linked to the Void." Giratina, a gray and black serpentine ghost dragon with black wings and a gold 'mask' that covered his mouth, the lord of the Distortion World, said as he implied a request. Sakura shifted to her full kitsune form as Giratina's red and black eyes seemed to stare into her soul. "Muddling goddess. She can't leave things alone. Never talk about her in this world." Giratina said sharply.

"The people and pokemon's belief in us are too entrenched for that goddess to get a foothold in this world. Besides, weren't you the one that let that human relive of hers turned pokemon be knew as 'Lord Harvest' without any trouble?" The glowing multi-winged light dragon with heterochromic eyes, Ultra Nacrozma, said amused. "It was Lady Mew's idea in the first place. Dialga saw a berry that Lady Mew loved going extinct and she demanded he nip the problem at the bud. We know how her temper tantrums are like, even an Ultra Beast like you." Sakura could feel dislike Giratina felt for the Ultra Beasts. "This is a not the time to talk about grouchy topics like that!" Mew cut in annoyed before her mood flipping as he hugged Sakura. "She's so cute! Like a different colored Ninetales. And the mirror looks so pretty." Mew was gushing nonstop.

The entity that lived inside Midnight Eclipse tried to scare Mew by making a scary face of Void Flames and roaring by it failed. The entity stared as Mew just hugged it and called it adorable. It retreated into Midnight Eclipse. "Aww. I wanted to play with it some more." Mew pouted as Sakura laughed. "Don't mind it's departure. It's the 'soul' of my Void Flames. Very strict and awaiting orders." Sakura said between laughs. "It pretty for a helpful stick in the mud." Mew said understanding.

A Few hours later

With Zane

Pokemonverse

Hidden magma chamber

"How does Elektra sound?" Zane asked submerged up to his neck in the magma. "Sounds nice but what does it mean?" Heatran, the steel/fire legendary that looked like a brownish red tortoise with yellow splotches and tan armor on her face and four cross shaped feet, asked as she clung to the wall like a gecko. "It means 'Amber', 'shinning' or 'incandescent'." Zane explained. "Sounds a lot better than the other ones. Are you sure it's ok to have 'Nyx' as her middle name?" Groudon asked. "Relax. I asked Nyx personally if it was ok. She was rather pleased for one of my clan to have her as a namesake. I must have caught her on a good day. Primals can be extremely unpredictable." Zane said. "Only you would jump into Tartarus to have a chat with Nyx." Entei grumbled. Zane looked at the brown furred cloud maned legendary dog napping on a flat red-hot rock. Entei's roar caused volcanos to erupt, so his calm personality was a relief.

"Do you think the others will mind us just leaving the meeting like that?" Zane asked. "It was almost over anyways. At worst we'll get a stern lecture from the sticks in the mud about ditching meetings about 'matters of cosmic proportions' or something like that. Most of the problems the last decade have been solved by the current chosen one, somehow." Groudon grumbled before asking Moltres, the firebird pokemon, "What's his name again? Cinders?" With a sigh, she corrected. "His name is Ash and he was the Chosen One of the Shamouti Island prophecy, before he somehow got mixed up in the rest of the problems." She was not proud of what happened during that near doom's day event but Groudon's spats with his water counterpart much worse, in her option.

"Right. 'And the world will turn to ash.' forgot about that. Hasn't he seen all the legendary pokemon other than the Galar region ones? Come to think of it, He was crowned the first Pokemon Champion of Alola a few months ago. Tapu Koko was so smug that his favored human got that title. He beat this trainer with that manmade Arcus knockoff." Groudon said and the others agreed. "So, Ash finally won? Good for him." Zane said with a smile. "How did he beat Gladion and Silvally?" "He chained Return with Volt Tackle to overpower them. Pikachu almost lost because of the recoil." Moltres said as she was watching the match from above. Zane laughed with pride. "I guess I inspired him." (This is written before anime revealed who wins.)

"What's with Giratina's distaste for Ultra Beasts?" Zane's question got a groan from them. "They make his job harder and he hates that with a passion." Groudon answered. "Training Kartana wasn't any easier. It was a greenhorn who just hatched a few weeks before I caught it. Waving around a sword with great skill but no discipline. Took months of mental exercises, but Kartana is calm enough to have around civilians." Zane said. "All the better. I heard that some hair stylist in Kalos bonded with one over the love of inventing new hair styles of all things." Entei comments on a rumor he heard. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least. Kartana can perfectly split a hair length wise." Zane says.

"I noticed that the legendary wolves of Galar were not at the meeting. Trouble in Galar?" Zane asked a little worried. "The Galarian Zigzagoon and their evolved forms started a massive brawl that has even us worried. The Obstagoon population will be higher than expected if it's like the other times this has happened." Entei explained. "I have no idea how the original branch of Zigzagoon, a bunch of battle junkies the lot of them, has lasted this long."

"What do you think Sakura has been up to all this time?" Zane asked imagining all the chaos Mew talked him into going along with. This included going back in time to when his Tyrantrum, who he hadn't gotten yet, was still Tyrunt and not yet fossilized. It worked out in the end, because he befriended a future powerhouse and got things of the past. he knew Mew was behind him find finding that exact Jaw Fossil. "Knowing Mew's past antics, something fun and chaotic. Maybe a little dangerous but your Daughter will survive with only a few scratches." Groudon guessed, scratching his chin.

"Mew wouldn't be Mew if she didn't do that. One time she took me to see 'something interesting' in the past. That being the birth of mega evolution, awesomely deadly fight by the way." Zane said with a smirk. "You were that bird that took some of bits that with ripped off of us in the fight?" Groudon asked surprised as he was remembering said fight. "Guilty as charged. Mew said something about them having a chance being used for evil and let me place them in the vault." Zane said. "Smart thinking. The essence of a legendary still carries our power even after it's separated from use. That wasn't the only time she given you the opportunity to snag bits of us, Burning One?" Moltres asked. Zane climbed out of the pool and turned into his firebird form. "The jig is up! Indeed, I have collected feathers, scales and other bits of every one of you guys. Only because Mew took me to those times and places." Zane said amused then added, "Thank you for winning my bet with Mew about who would ask me if I was the 'Burning One', She bet it'd be Entei."

Zane returned to human from midair and dropped smoothly into the magma. "I never forget a feather. You have one of your braided in your hair." Moltres said with pride.

With Sakura

A few hours earlier

Pokemonverse

Alola Region

Lillie's mansion home

"Are sure it was ok to bubble him like that?" Sakura asked as she walked up the path to the front door. Mew just giggled as a man with blonde-haired man, wearing a white tank top green and red shorts and a straw hat, Mohn, in a pink bubble looking exasperated at this treatment and the fact the bubble was opaque looking out. "I agree that he needs to be brought home, but this seems so rude." Sakura pleaded.

Mew knocked and Hobbes, the gray haired and mustached butler, answered only to faint in shock. Mew was giggling up a storm at his reaction alerting the other people in the mansion. Lusamine and her two children ran into the entry hall, but they too froze. "Am I dreaming?" Gladion asked as his sister stepped forward with Snowy, her Alolan Vulpix followed her lead. "Lady Mew, is that my father?" She asked in a firm voice that quavered ever so slightly.

Mew nodded, just giggling and popped the bubble. He landed on the paved landing as his hat was pulled over his eyes by Mew. "Father!" Lillie said hugging Mohn as his hat falls off. "Lillie? Gladion? Lusamine? Where did that cat take me?" Mohn asked confused but grateful. "Home, Mew brought you home." Lusamine said as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Mohn stood up and the family embraced in a group hug. Hobbes was hit with a Wake-Up Slap by Mew and shot up saying, "You have returned Master Mohn!" Mohn laughed. "I'd still be lost in some other place full of oddly shaped eyeball pokemon (This is not cannon) if it wasn't for that pink giggling menace called Mew." He glares at Mew halfheartedly. "The legendary pokemon Mew?" they ask as one. Mew strikes a pose in the air that looked more adorable than majestic like she was aiming for.

Sakura got Snowy' attention. "Could you get their attention please?" Snowy blink the said in the tongue of pokemon, "What are you? You look like a Ninetales but you have a pretty floating mirror. And the flames look like the night sky." Snowy was a younger pokmon so Sakura didn't mind confusion. "I have the Soul-Heart she needs to awaken Magearna." Sakura pressed softly as Snowy got the message. Snowy blew some cold air to get the humans' attention. "What is it Snowy?" Lillie asked getting out of the hug to kneel. Sakura sat next to Snowy and offered the Soul-Heart using a tail to grasp it.

"Is that what I think it is?" Mohn asked reaching for it but Sakura batted his hand way with another tail. "You want me to take it?" Lillie asked. Sakura nodded. Gingerly, Lillie accepted the Soul-Heart. "That's the Soul-Heart. For years I searched for it yet some ninetales doesn't find me worthy to have it. Oh well at least you got it." Mohn said nursing his stinging hand with a sigh. "Dear, you are home and the Soul-Heart is here, please don't get yourself cursed." Lusamine pleaded. "You're right. I shouldn't be so rash." Mohn admitted as Hobbes ushered everyone to the sitting room.

A few minutes later

In the sitting room

"The Soul-Heart goes in the chest cavity like this." Lillie said to herself as she set it into the still body of the Magearna. Its eyes gained life as its chest closed. Its 'ears' shot up in fear as it folded into its 'pokeball' form, rocking in place. "Come on out. No one here wants to hurt you." Lillie said softly. Magearna shifted back nervously. She looked at the odd humans. Her arms were resting on her 'dress' as she looked for something that made sense. There floating by the table snacking on some food, was Mew. Magearna waved its arms making sounds.

Mew looked up with berry filling around her mouth from the tarts she was hoarding to herself. "Oh, hello again!" Mew greeted then listened for a moment, "I'm surprised you remember me. That science guy that made you told me to protect you. So, I left your core with my berry protector! Then I forgot about you, sorry!" Mew apologized before eating more tarts. "What does she mean?" Gladion asked his father.

"Lord Harvest was said to be the reason many berry types are still around after a drought that hit a lot of the regions many years ago. Judging by Mew's hoard of berry tarts and what she said telepathically, she was behind that being existing and the Soul-Heart being 'protected'. There is ruins that may be linked to it being investigated recently connected to Lord Harvest. No information is being shared at this time, need to know basis." Lusamine said. "I can tell you if you want." Sakura said.

"Sakura?" Lillie and Snowy says in their native tongue as they realize where they heard that voice before. "In the fur and flesh." Sakura said amused. "How are you Sakura? Lillie said you were human." Gladion asked harshly. Sakura's tails drifted lazily as she sat like a cat does on the couch. "I'm human. I just happen to gain the interest of high power that I shall not name. The legendries don't like it when outsiders try to poach their followers."

"I imagine so. You make a very lovely fox. If you are here, then your father must be nearby." Lusamine said. "Not quite, he's relaxing with Groudon chatting about things that have happened since they've last had a chat. Mew had a grand idea and I'm just her for the ride." Sakura said catching a tart Mew threw at her. "Yum. These are good." She comments as Hobbes beams with pride. "Mew's of fun is bubbling me to surprise my family. How do the others deal with her antics?" Mohn asked. "With a lot of practice and hopping they won't have to deal with it." Sakura answered.

"just for that, you are going to be helping me look for the perfect pokemon for your future sister!" Mew said with a pout. "Zane's wife is pregnant? That's lovely news!" Lusamine said giddily. "Come on! We've got a lot of searching to do!" Mew said levitating Sakura then the two vanished. "Come on dear! We got shopping to do!" Lusamine said grabbing her husband's arm. "Do you even know what you're looking for?" Mohn asked as he was dragged away to carry the shopping bags. "Trust me, my mother's intuition will let be find the perfect gifts." Lusamine reassured him. "Mother will be gone all day and poor Father will be stuck with all the heavy bags." Lillie stated. "I'm more worried about Sakura. Did you see how childish Mew was? Who knows what trouble she'll be in?" Gladion commented dryly. Magearna made sounds and gestures. "I believe Magearna is impying that Mew may be childish, but she's got safety in mind." Hobbes guessed. Magearna 'ears' moved in a happy way.

Hours later (back to Present time)

Pokemonverse

Some other Pokemon dimension connected to the main one

"I told you it was a bad idea to annoy them!" Sakura yelled as they fled from a herd of Tauros, bull like pokemon with three tails a stampede trigger. "I didn't know that was over three thousand of them with such short tempers!" Mew yelled as she clung to Sakura's back. Apparently, they didn't care if you with a legendry pokemon, trespassers get trampled. "Get us out of here!" Sakura demanded. Mew teleported them away in the nick of time.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Dimension

Torkoal's Hot Spring

"Where did you youngsters come from?" An elderly sounding orange turtle, with 'closed' eyes and a shell with glowing holes in it, asked as Mew and Sakura coughed out water. "Angry tauros and a blind emergency teleport." Sakura coughed. "Ahh. They can be impossible to reason with. Bless my soul! Lady Mew, you are as youthful as they say." Torkoal's tone changed halfway through his statement when he got a good look at Mew, smoke shot of out his shell with a whistle as he blushed on top of that.

"Mew, you can get me home, right?" Sakura asked out of nowhere noticing Mew's worried body language that she was trying to hide. "We're kind of stuck here for a while." Mew said ducking underwater. "How long?" Sakura asked in her best imitation of Aqua's 'I'm really disappointed in you' look. "seven months. I was planning to drop Zane, and maybe you too, here so you can make an Exploration Team or maybe a Rescue Team, depending on what town you ended up being closest to, and have a fun time. I even locked the paths out of the dimension to ensure you don't leave early." Sakura didn't say anything as she kept the look going. "I messed up big time." Mew said softly.

"Yes, you did. And you are stuck here with me too. Are you going to skulk in the hot spring or are you going to join me in Team Hestia?" Sakura said as she stopped the look and extended a paw. "I don't know the whole story, but you need to own up to your own mistakes, Lady Mew." Torkoal said chuckling. "This youngster has a good head on her shoulders and the makings of a good leader. Tell Guild master Wigglytuff this is for him." Torkoal hands them a 'Perfect Apple', an apple that was better than any other apple in the pokemonverse.

"It's his favorite food, right?" Sakura asked as she took the apple and hid it in her fur. "You don't know the half of it." Torkoal chuckled. "Once your rested up, you just need to go to Treasure Town and you can't miss the Guild." Torkoal's directions make Sakura think of the eccentric buildings she seen. A floating sheathed sword with a face buried itself in the warm sand. Its red cloth 'arm' waved a greeting as a male voice said, "Didn't expect anyone to be here yet, Torkoal."

"You wouldn't believe it, but they got on the wrong side of those uppity bulls. Lady Mew and her friend got teleported here and they will be joining Wigglytuff's Guild. Honedge, didn't you say you were looking for a reliable leader?" Torkoal asked slyly. Honedge grumbled in understanding but stopped and burst out of the sand unsheathing himself, revealing the blood red blade, and poked Torkoal with his sheath using his 'arm'. "I told you, I refuse to follow some greenhorn that can't even change up tactics that fail. What this about Mew? The first and only time I met her was many years after I died on that battlefield, defending Greece from the Roman invaders. My name is Basil Harris, at least use my first name."

"Greeting Basil Harris. My name is Sakura Laskaris. It is an honor to meet you." Sakura greeted. Basil Looked her way and was shocked for two reasons. "It is Lady Mew. Color me surprised. And one of the Laskaris clan too. I'll give you a chance to prove you can be a leader on the way to the guild." Basil reburied himself in the sand. "How long has it been since Greece fell?" Basil asked. "almost 32,000 years. Many empires rose and fell, but we Laskaris survived to tell about it." Sakura said relaxing. "That's what we Greeks do, survive or take the enemy down with us. What brings you to my neck of the multiverse?" Basil asked. "Mew didn't iron out the details and we're stuck here for seven months. Luckily I won't miss my soon-to-be baby sister's birth." Sakura sighing contentedly. "That's wonderful news. Impress me and I'll help you find suitable gifts when we do missions." Basil said as Mew pouted at being ignored.

Next morning

Near Treasure Town

Wigglytuff's Guild

Outside

Sakura walked up to the pink and white Wigglytuff shaped building, as she stepped on a wooden grate, a voice from below said, "Pokemon detected! Pokemon Detected! Footprints are Ninetales?" The voice finished confused. "What do you mean 'Ninetales?' is it a ninetales or not?" Anther voice boomed making Mew and Sakura cover their ears that the volume, mainly because it was annoyingly loud but not so loud that it hurt too much. "The Ninetales is slightly different in appearance." The first voice said a little worried.

The loud voice yelled, "Ninetales let the next pokemon go. Basil took her place on the grate. "Pokemon detected! It's Basil the Honedge!" The voice said. "Thank you Diglet for using my name unlike some turtles!" Basil said pointedly. "Yeah, yeah! We get it! Torkoal 'forgot to call you by your name again! NEXT!" The loud voice bellowed. As soon as Mew floated over the grate there was silence. "Diglet! Whose footprint is it?" The loud voice bellowed. "I have no idea! It's cat like, pink and is floating." Diglet described. "WHAT!" A third voice yelled as the sound of frantic flying was heard.

Out of the guild came a parrot like pokemon with a musical note head, Chatot, in such a rush he skids to a stop at the grate. He gaps at Mew. "Lady Mew! It is an honor for you to come to this humble guild! Come in, your companions are welcome too!" He says leading them down the ladder into the guild.

Inside the guild

The guild members watch in awe as the most elusive legendry pokemon looked around with childlike glee that reminded them of the Guild Master. "Is that a Perfect Apple I smell?" speak of the devil, the pink and white balloon bunny pokemon, Wigglytuff followed the scent to Sakura. "Hello odd fox, do you have a Perfect Apple?" He asked with glee. Sakura presented it saying, "Torkoal at the hot springs sent this for you. Enjoy!" She smiled as Wigglytuff balanced it on his head and waved as he returned to his chambers, pausing only to say to Mew, "Hello again berry buddy."

"Well, I hope this is a peaceful encounter." A normal Ninetales said as her partner, a Blastoise (a blue skinned turtle that walked bipedal and has two water cannons sticking out of his shell), chuckled. "Susan, Lady Mew is the mother of all pokemon, she is chaotic mischief incarnate. Peaceful is not possible for her." Blastoise said. These were the aces of the guild, who saved the world a few times, and founding members of Team Nike. "Greetings bearers of victory's name. I hope you are not letting her blessing go to your head." Sakura said in Greek.

Susan laughed. "None of the pokemon, other than those that were once human, even came close to guessing the origin of the team name, yet you knew exactly what it was. You're from a Greek family. I knew a Greek chap in the Bad Future that we stopped." Susan responded in a passable Greek. "Your Greek still sounds like a drunk trying to woe a goddess and just avoiding being smitten out of pity." Basil commented in flawless ancient Greek. Susan sighed before saying in common tongue, "Your standards are crazy as always, Basil."

"It is my mother tongue! You will be getting some refresher lessons from me." He said switching as well. "that is nonnegotiable, by the way." Susan, Blastoise and many of the pokemon around them winced at this. Basil was a strict taskmaster and was not afraid to whack you upside the head if he felt you needed it. "Right this way. The Guild Master will be the one to make your team official." Chatot said ushering them into Wigglytuff's chambers.

Five minutes later

"Here's your badges and bandanas." Wigglytuff said, doing a dance and using the Perfect Apple like a hacky sack. "Can I be the mascot? It wouldn't be fair if I help you beat all the foes you face." Mew asked as they put on the flame design bandanas. Basil wrapped it around his handle while Mew and Sakura had it around their necks. "That's alright. It'd be boring if you fought anyone, you're just too powerful. IT just means you need to take the job of moral support." Sakura said.

"Could you elaborate on that?" Chatot asked interested in how the new team leader would defend her choice. "Be it clients, friends, or just some random pokemon, moral is very important to maintain. Mew's cheerfulness is perfect for that job. That's a lesson Father taught me early on." Sakura explained. "Very good. You are starting to look like a good leader, I still haven't seen you in battle yet." Basil said in approval. "That's right! You don't need to battle to help others. Some just need a smile to brighten their day! *crunch* So good!" Wigglytuff said munching on the Perfect Apple with a goofy smile on his face.

"You start at Normal Rank, but I have the feeling that you will be raising that quite quickly. Don't overwork yourself and you will find your rhythm." Chatot said making Sakura laugh softly. "That reminds me of this place I visited that forces you to move to the beat of music that comes from the empty air. It's fun once you figure it out." She said. "Interesting. I hope you use those skills on the job." Chatot said. "Your first job will be to find as many Oran berries in the Beach Cave Mystery Dungeon as you can. Our stocks are getting low." They nod, it made sense to make the new team do a supply run as their first mission.

A few hours later

Wigglytuff Guild

"Good job. You collected quite a few berries. Here's your reward: 500 poke coins." Chatot said handing them a sack of coins. "What's that egg?" He asked when he noticed the white egg, with a gray crescent strip and multiple red ones, cradled in Sakura's tails. "We found in the clutches of a nasty Sneasel. Officer Magnezone informed us that he was an eggnapping outlaw and payed us 10,000 poke coins for his capture." Sakura said handing over 9,000 coins, the guild cut of the reward. "So, you ran into an outlaw and beat him? Not bad for a beginning team. This egg wasn't reported missing?" Chatot asked with grimace. "The parent was slain when the egg was taken." Sakura said softly so only Chatot heard it.

"As long as you don't slack off then I have no problem with you caring for it." Chatot said sadly. "Good job, Team Hestia. Supper will be starting soon."

Elsewhere the same time

Quirk Earth (Based on My Hero Academia)

Villains for Hire Island HQ

Zane's office

"So, UA is hiring us to crash a training exercise?" Zane asked looking at the paperwork Kurogiri, a man who quick made his body look like human shaped black mist, handed him. "Only the principle and All Might know about it currently. Sir, may I ask again why you hired villains like us who have 'questionable moral compasses'?" Kurogiri asked smoothing his tasteful suit out. "Kurogri, people like you have a hard time fitting as 'Pro heroes' like the lucky ones with PR friendly quirks. Take Tenko Shimura with his Decay quirk, if he didn't run into me some foul group would have snapped him up and made him a pawn." Zane said with a sigh. "We at Villains for Hire provide jobs for those that are too good at being 'evil'. Just as there is an agency for volunteer mock victims in the exams Pro Heroes set up, we do the same with the role of 'villains' hence why we are on an Island off the coast of Japan."

Kurogiri kind of understood his boss' view no matter how weird he was at times. "How is your family doing?" Kurogiri asked, probing for answers why Zane was so stressed. "Wonderful but everyone's on edge. My wife's pregnant and my Daughter is on a job that last seven months. She'll be back before the expected due date. Aqua yelled at me to 'stop stressing her out and let her worry about her own health. She's got trusted individuals watching over her."

Kurogiri laughed dryly "You do sometimes stress too much. Some time ago, you were complaining about how that exploding kid wasn't the real hero but that quirkless kid was." Zane's eye twitched. "That brat they praised caused the fire to be that bad. If I had been around the day of the event, I would have been the first to pat the true hero on the back. Takes real guts to run in like that." Zane grumbled.

"Izuku Midoriya is among the class we are to 'attack'" Kurogiri said Zane sat up in his 'bond villain chair'. "Tell Principle Nezu he's getting a free upgrade on the package he ordered." Zane said. "You intend to take part?" Kurogiri asked. He hadn't ever seen his boss fight nor had anyone of this agency. "It's time for Daemon to make his appearance." Zane said. "Fetch Tenko Shimura, I need to inform him about who All Might is to his family." Kurogiri nodded and left to get the teenager.

Tenko Shimura, a dark gray-haired male human in his late teens and twitchy hands, walked into the office five minutes later. "You wanted to see me, Boss." Tenko said in a low dry sounding voice. "Yes, you know that Nana Shimura, your grandmother, was a Pro hero, right?" Zane begins. He got a nod as he continued. "All Might was her student. To be fair, he doesn't know about you yet and your emotions may get the better of you when you meet him. All I ask is you be professional when on the clock." Zane watched the emotions play across Tenko's face. "What's the job?" Tenko asked at last. "We are party crashers at UA. You, Kurogiri, and a few squads of the 'underlings' will be the main invasion force with the 'Great Demon Lord' Daemon leading the operation. Tenko's eye widened. "You're taking the helm?" Zane laughed, "Only the best for UA High School!"

"When will it be happening?" Tenko asked. "Next week here is the information we have on who will be present. There may be changes between then and now." Zane slide a packet of papers for him to read. Tenko scanned the pages, careful memorizing what information was provided. "All Might will be hard to beat but space hero Thirteen will be much easier to deal with. Some of Class 1-A is known but most are blank. Why?" Tenko said sliding the papers back across the desk. "To keep us on our toes. If we had all the information, then it's be too easy. This is as much a test for us as it is for them." Zane said plainly.

"I see. I will keep the injuries to the minimum. Let's put on a good show." Tenko said as he left the office. The door rotting to dust was just a 'random event', not Tenko showing his frustration with All Might not being there for him as a child. Note the sarcasm in the statement. Zane sighed and activated the intercom "The door to my office rotted away again. Please bring a replacement door post haste." Zane ordered then turned it off. That was third time this week he's done that. Tenko had done that mistake a lot in the early years Zane had known him. Now it was just him venting his anger on easily replaceable things.

A week later

UA High School

USJ (Unforeseen Simulation Joint)

Zane in the form of Daemon stepped out of Kurogiri's Warp gate as Tenko and the underlings came out in various areas of the disaster simulation facility waiting for the students to be scattered by the warp gate. "Heroes in training, you seem to be having a party. You don't mind if we crash it?" Zane said in creepy way. Space hero Thirteen, who gender was unknown and looked like a helmet wearing tire mascot with their puffy costume. Their quirk was blackhole, sucks in and break everything down to dust.

The other teacher was the underground hero Eraser Head, wearing black clothes, a 'capture scarf' and googles, made the black haired pale skinned hero look not very PR (public relations) friendly. "Students, this is not planned." Eraser Head said as he jumped into action, he wasn't in the loop it seemed. His quirk let him nullify most quicks if he stares at the user. When he blinks or loses line of sight, the effect ends. Kurogiri scattered the students as Zane took out Thirteen with a neck chop and watched the action from above using his wings.

Eraser Head glared at Zane as the underlings were thrashed and thrown about. That scarf of his much be made of an odd alloy, as he used it to throw the underlings with skill from a lot of practice. One of the students escaped the building with the teamwork of his classmates. About ten minutes later, Zane landed clapping amused. "Well done. You have provided me with all the information I need to beat you, hero." Zane said in calm voice. Eraser Head wrapped his scarf around Zane but that was a mistake. Zane pulled him in and pinned him to the ground, face down.

Some of the students got back. A frog like quirk user, the son of the number two pro hero, that blonde one that got praised for starting a fire, and Izuku was among them. "You have two choices, surrender or try to save the heroes. What will it be?" Tenko said with a hand on Thirteen's neck. "What are your demands?" Izuku asked. The kid had a freckled face and spikey green hair as he analyzed everything.

"Good. You are reading the hostage situation well. Why should I negotiate when we hold more of the cards?" Zane asked with his shadowed eyes gleamed. "Violence isn't the only way to solve this problem. Just tell us what you want, and we will try to meet them." Izuku said placatingly. "Very well. Fight me and if you impress me, I'll let the hostages go." Zane knocking out Eraser Head and throwing him so Tenko's free hand rested on his neck. "Any foul play and he will rot their necks off." The students flinch back to varying degrees.

"DIE!" The hot-headed nitro sweating brat yelled as he pulled the pin on one of the grenade gantlets he wore. An explosion raced towards Zane but was halted with the gale winds from Daemon's bat wings. "You almost killed the hostages, how unheroic of you." Zane commented thwarting other attacks as they happened. Izuku watched every action, trying to formulate a plan. Izuku saw an opportunity used the quirk given to him by All Might. "SMASH!" Izuku's fist was stopped an inch from Zane's covered face. Zane had grabbed him by the wrist and was not letting go, but Izuku flicked Zane full force.

Zane shoot back into the fountain behind Kurogiri, smashing it. "We did it." Izuku's finger was broken and purple. "That's the way!" a student with tape dispensing elbows said grinning. Tenya Iida, the student that escape using his quirk that gave him engines in his calves, returned with the massive muscular blonde haired man, All Might, the number one hero, and an odd creature that looked like a mix of a dog, a mouse, and a bear, wearing a suit, Principle Nezu riding on All Might's shoulder.

"The drill is over." All Might boomed. Tenko touched a com devise on his ear and told the underlings to stand down. "What? This was a drill?" Eijiro Kirishima, a spiky red-haired student, asked as he was sure it had been real. "Damn! I didn't expect him to flick me like that." Zane commented as he removed himself from the ruined fountain, mildly scuffed up. "Great attack kid, but you need to work on the recoil." Zane said in a cheerful tone. "You just were put through the first test by Villains for Hire Agency! You need a life like villain attack? We got them for a price." Zane said cheerfully.

"Well done. I had high hopes hiring someone as unknown as you would help." Nezu said just as cheerful. "So, when did this Agency get started?" Shoto, a white-haired kid with a red patch hair near his burn scar and two different colored eyes, asked calmly. "This was the first big job we did. We've been doing small jobs for the past five years." Zane said dusting himself off. "Now. When do you want me to do the other half of the job?" Zane asked the Pro Heroes. "Next week. Your talk will be with all the classes in the auditorium." Nezu said as he checked the out cold staff members. "Clean take downs and limited bruising. Recovery Girl will be thankful you limited the injuries."

A week later

UA High School

"Give warm welcome to someone who has given people more chances to make a legal living in this day and age." Nezu said into the mic on the podium. Zane in his human form, wearing his normal attire, took stage. "Thank you Nezu and students." He said as the crowd died down. "Villains for Hire is an agency that gives anyone, that can't be hero for any reason, a chance to get a job to be proud of. Our main branch is people who act as mock villains. These can be hired for tests and exams by the heroic schools and such as long as the contract is respected." Zane said.

One of the students, with dead eyes and blue hair, asked "What other branches are there?" Zane smiled and said. "Please say your name and class." "Hitoshi Shinso, general education class 1-C." Was the dead response he got. Zane nodded, "Well, Shinso. The other branches are general jobs that even quirkless people can do with the right skills." The picture of one of his employees who's quick was to make things spin appeared. "This is Fred, yes his head is a tornado with a face. He gets that a lot. His quick lets him spin things. He didn't want to be a Pro Hero so he because a plumber under my employment. The most dangerous thing he faces is a busted pipe." This got laughs.

An hour later

Zane got a lot of questions and he answered them. Then he got a question from Neito Monoma, Class 1-B. "What is your quirk?" The blonde condescending brat of a student had that annoying voice. "One of my quicks is called 'Hestia's Blessing'. It grants me fire several things including a fire bird form, fire-based abilities, and a regen that is nothing to scoff at." Izuku's hand shoot up as the staff members tensed. "What do you mean by 'one of my quirks'?" Zane chuckled. "My first quick is hereditary you could say. All my family has had a fire based quick for many generations. My second quirk, well I gained it by dire means." Zane closed his eyes and gripped the podium as dark memories resurfaced.

"I was in a nasty bind when I met an individual that goes by 'Daemon'. He had the power to grate me a mean to escape the bind we were both in. His 'quick' is call 'Flame Devil's Contract'. Sign on the dotted line and he can give you power for a price. That price is he is bound to your body and soul." The room was silent as he said this. "You mean I was beat by two people!" Katsuki Bakugo, the nitro sweet kid, raged annoyed. "Yes, you did you trigger happy brat!" Zane yelled back as he covered the mic. "You are the most egocentric bomber brat in this school! If it wasn't a test, I would've have easily killed you with your limited skill set. So, sit down and SHUT THE TARTERUS UP BEFORE I MAKE YOU!" Zane calmed down and noted the mic was crushed, it was quickly replaced.

"Sorry about that. Are there any more questions before I wrap things up?" Zane said. "Yes. I'm Mei Hatsume, Support Class 1-H. You said earlier that you use tech that is all made in house. What is some of the more interesting tech you've made?" The female student with salmon hair, crosshair eyes, and had been tinkering with something the whole time. "You know Malboro from Final Fantasy? Well I made a stick bomb so powerful it can, will and has made things with no sense of smell flee from the stench alone." Mei grinned like mad as one of teachers, Power Loader, groaned. "That will be all today." Zane said walking off stage.

Later that day

UA High School

The Gardens

Zane was napping in one of the gardens when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. Zane grabbed the hand and pinned the person with a burning claw read to stab. "Oh, it's the student that asked about my quirk." He said as he saw Neito and some of his classmates from Class 1-B. "Neito! What were you thinking!" Itsuka Kendo, an orange side pony tailed female with a quirk that let her enlarge her hands. "Why isn't it working?" Neito said trying to use his copied 'quirk'. "My quirks require more than just having them. There are conditions to even use it. Upside is they can't be negated easily." Zane said easing away from Neito and dismissed the burning claw.

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, who had a white outline around his eyes and white hair, looked interested and another emotion. "Why did you make that deal with Daemon?" He asked straightforwardly. Zane looked at them straight in the eyes. "To avenge my Master." Zane said vanishing, leaving a lit match that burned out soon after. "It is quite rude to ask things like that." Ibara Shiozaki, a teen with long vine hair, said serenely from behind a tree. "He has eyes of a battle-hardened warrior. As such, he has seen Tartarus, the underworld, not the prison they put dangerous villains. Please be more considerate next time."

"Sorry?" Tetsutetsu said. "She means he's been to war and didn't come out the same." Yui Kodai, an almost expressionless teen with a face framed by straight black hair. "soldiers have similar eyes after going to war." Her voice was hard as she glared at Neito. "If he didn't have control over his reaction, you would have been dead." Then she turned to Tetsutestu, "and you asked a question that upset him. Who knows what he is doing now!" She scolded them, because she worried about their safety.

Quirk Earth

Special Prison for Villain Criminals – Tartarus

Visiting room

"Hello, All for One. How is have been going?" Zane said as he looked at the face the one that killed All Might's teacher. His face was bald and scar tissue that left only his nose, ears and mouth intact. He was hooked up to a lot of things to keep him alive and weapons were trained on him. "It's nice to hear you again. I haven't seen anything since All Might destroyed my face. It warms my heart to know that you were the one to capture me. Not All Might nor any of the pesky heroes nowadays." All for One velvety voice said from the over side of the glass. "You are no hero, far from it. You are the Bird of the Hearth, the shadow that haunts the minds and hearts of the criminal underworld. When they dance to your tune, they can stay alive. For my defeat to be at your hands means that your empire is on the raise. Enjoy the shadow throne for there will always be a challenger for it down the road."

Zane left the room as the Warden escorted him out. "I rather have you as the king the shadows than that villain." The Warden told him quietly. He understood what a hero-based society caused. Stronger the light, greater the shadow it cast.

The next day

UA High School

Nezu's office

"The clay pigeon serial killer came at last." Shota Aizawa, aka Eraser Head, said dryly as he glared at Zane. "I know you don't like him but he's not a bad guy!" Toshinori Yagi, All Might's real name, looked a like a skeletal version of his buffed-up form. "He is a crime lord no matter what front he puts up with his 'agency'." Aizawa said. "That is true, but human and animal trafficking has become nonexistent as a result." Zane said sitting on the couch next to All Might. "You almost killed a student and lied about having a quirk." Aizawa stated, his glaring eyes homed in on Zane.

"I was stressed and his personality needs work. As for the lie, what am I to say? 'I was blessed by a goddess and met a digital devil in a hellscape?'" Zane said annoyed. "Now, now. There was no harm done and he was right to lie, few know about his otherworldly origins and the existence of real magic." Nezu says preventing things from escalating out of control. Aizawa stopped glaring but he was watching Zane. "Of the worlds I've visited, there has been at least a dozen times I had to insert myself as a 'crime lord'. It's not fun nor is it easy. The criminal underground won't be 'squeaky clean' ever. All I can do is make it less vile. Over half of my employees are hired muscle that I acquired after tearing down some of the smuggling rings." Zane said sighing.

"That's to be expected. You visited All for One, right?" All Might asked. "Before you say anything, it was the same questions I couldn't answer at first. They are keeping him out of the loop about the outside world." Zane said. Nezu stated, "but then he said something different." Zane nodded. "He congratulated me from one crime lord to another. He's happy I 'stole' the glory of his defeat from the heros. None of the heroes will be known for being the one to defeat one of the greatest villains ever to live in Japan." Zane said.

"Makes perfect sense he'd enjoy you doing that. He never like heroes, maybe he found kinship with you somewhere in his black heart." Aizawa snarked. "You're still mad about being kept out of the loop on the drill." Zane commented. "That and the number of times you escaped me." Aizawa commented. "We both know it was only because you tried to dismantle my crime group, as you Pro Heroes do." Zane waved it off. "You Pro Heroes are nothing like the heroes of old. Fighting deadly foes and dealing with them more permanently at times. That's the kind of hero I am, according to some people I've met."

"Yes, you're the loving fossil of a Greek hero." Aizawa snark got a laugh from Zane. "At least I'm not a lawn gnome. I inherited the job of leader, in multi-world organization, from someone whose quirk prevented him from dying for three hundred years. He got stabbed on the job and it should have killed him, but his quirk activated, and he was a waking talking lawn gnome of his likeness." They were shocked.

"What kind of quirk does that?" All Might asked. "Sleeping King was what it was called. He could not die until the worthy inheritor appeared to take his job and only then was, he allowed to crumble to dust. He was so grateful." Zane said remembering the previous Hearth leader. "some people get useless quirks but that's life." Aizawa said with a shrug. "All Might, you were interested in one of my underlings, my 'right-hand man', in the case of the drill." Zane stated. "His face reminds me of someone, but I can't place where I've seen it." All Might said rubbing his chin.

"Tenko Shimura." Zane stated a name that stopped All Might's musing. "He's related to Nana Shimura?" All Might remembered his mentors face and mentally compared it to Tenko's. "Based on his age, he must be her grandson. His graying hair is because of his quirk, right?" All Might asked. "Yeah, it's a problem a little magic fixed. Overuse of his quick would have killed him, but the moogles whipped up a solution. A ring imbued with time and healing magic slowing restored his body back to normal when his quirk starts to rot it from overuse. Added fifty years back to his lifespan." Zane explained.

"so, it can be overtaxed and fail. Good to know." Aizawa said in drawl. "Do they have anything for dry eye problems?" he added quickly getting chuckles. "If you have the cash, they are willing to work something out." Zane answered. "When can I meet Tenko?" All Might asked hopeful. Zane cringed at this. "It's best if you don't for a while. The kid's got issues to work out and him rotting you away in a fit of rage is not going to help him solve them." Zane said skirting the question. "That is disheartening to hear but I understand." All Might said.

"there is a few more things we'd like to bring up with you. One being the upcoming Sports Festival, we feel your aid will help make it more interesting this year." Nezu said in way Zane used when making a business deal. "We'll get back to that later. What is the other thing?" Zane was sipping tea when what he heard made him to a spit take. "I plan to tell the public I will be retiring at the event." All Might said.

"WHAT?" Zane coughed. "I get that you need to return at some point but this soon?" Nezu handed Aizawa a cloth to dry off. "He's not retiring then and there. It will be an announcement that he will be retiring in a year at the earliest, so the public have a chance to have hope for the next generation of heroes when they hear the news." Nezu explained. That made more sense. The heroes-in-training strut their stuff and All Might's news isn't as bad sounding. "How did you enjoy the article on 'Mr. Toaster' and his bad parenting despite being a productive worker?" Zane asked with a straight face but his eyes gleamed.

"That thinly vailed roast you wrote set off the fire alarms in his hero agency. He swears he will hunt down the writer and show how hot his flames can get." Aizawa said with a creepy grin. "You are a crazy guy." Nezu passed All Might a copy of the article in question. All Might's eyes darted across the pages as his eyebrows creeped higher with each word about of 'Mr. Toaster' aka Endeavor, the number two hero, was a shit parent and abusive in respects. "Wow. No stone was unturned, even if it was only referenced. I'm surprised the public didn't catch on who 'Mr. Toaster' was yet." All Might comments as he finished reading.

"Only his family, the Pro Heroes that have seen or heard what has happened to his family, or those that connected the dots know. Endeavor, the number two hero, has his hero rep intake. Enji Todoroki, his civilian persona, on the other hand got a reality check he sourly needs." Zane said calmly. "He will be thinking about the words 'Mr. Tweety' said about him over and over. It will drive him mad or make him realize the truth." They nodded at this assessment.

Elsewhere same world

Shoto Todoroki stared that the roast published in the paper. He knew from the title what it was about. He gave this 'Mr. Tweety' credit for hiding it well. The question was, how did he get all this information? Some of it was only known by Shoto and 'Mr. Toaster'. He smiled a little every time he used that name for his father. Fuyumi Todoroki, Shoto's older sister, was sitting across from him and adjusted her mostly white (with hints of red) hair so it didn't hang Infront of her glasses. "You understand why I had you read that now. Father will be searching for him and I fear if we try to track him down ourselves, we may lead Father right to him." She said smiling sadly.

"Then we don't do anything about it. Let 'Mr. Toaster' run himself ragged chasing after a little bird that aired his skeletons for all to see." Shoto said logically then his face softened. "Has mother seen it yet?" He asked quietly. "She laughed and cried as she read it. It was worded to be amusing but to be taking seriously. I have never seen someone do it so well other than play wrights who are long dead. You should visit her, she misses you." Fuyumi encouraged. "I'll think about it." He said.

At that moment, it was as if an earthquake rocked the universe but only those with a soul were affected. Shoto gasped as it ended. "That couldn't have been an earthquake, nothing is shifted." He reasoned shakily. "It felt like there was a shift in the cosmic order or something." Fuyumi said because she had felt the 'quake' with her soul, not her mind or body. "At least we are unharmed." Shoto said, wondering what happened.

Quirk Earth

One of Zane's safe house

Zane felt the shift more strongly and knew what it was. That Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, had done something on a cosmic level and Zane was going cave his skull in to get the answers if he had to. He entered a hidden room deep in the ground beneath the basement (five stories down to be exact). The room was means to talk to more dangerous beings safely.

After some steps, a fiery viewing portal opened to show a blonde human male, wearing biker leather, sitting on a throne with a crown of fire on his head. "Ghost Rider, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" Zane bellowed. Johnny Blaze leaned his fist, saying, "Dethroned Mephisto and took his throne as a king of Hell." Zane's rage quieted, replaced by deep annoyance. "Lovely. Next time you do that remember that the whole of the multiverse felt that as a cosmic quake of soul."

Zarathos, an angel of justice (he looks more like a demon with a red skull engulfed in blue flames for a face), spoke through his host's, Johnny, mouth. "It matters not what happens, vengeance is mine at last." Zane breathed slowly. "Enjoy being higher up the chain of command under Satan." Zane made the viewing portal to close. "Great. The Ghost Rider was powerful before, now he's got an army of Hell to help him hunt down the blacken souls. My contacts in the criminal underworld may suffer loses along with the other criminals." Zane muttered to himself. He hoped Sakura was having more fun.

With Sakura

two months later

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon verse

Treasure Town

Wigglytuff Guild

"We're Gold Rank Now! YEAH!" Mew cheered with pompoms in her paws. Chatot nodded as he gave Team Hestia badges to match their new rank. "Well done Team Hestia. With this new rank, more dangerous missions are open to you. In fact, your team was requested for an interesting mission." Chatot said handing Sakura a letter. Sakura uses her tails to open it and unfold it. "'The Fox of Legend challenges Team Hestia to pass through Lapis Cave, scale Mt. Blaze, cross the Frosty Forest, and reach the peck of Mt. Freeze. This must be done without turning back for supplies and only two may take the challenge. I wait your arrival.'" Sakura frowned. "This was star rank mission, only the top teams are allowed on those."

Chatot smiled. "That correct for most cases, but this is an exception. You two will be delivering mail for a Rescue Team on another continent, who know what trials await you, Team Night Vale." Sakura and Mew froze at that name. "Is the leader a former human?" Sakura asked. Chatot nodded. "He goes by the name Yggdrasill, a Venusaur, and his partner is a Blastoise named Tank. They reached the coveted Lucario Rank, the highest rank for Rescue Teams, named after a legendary Rescue Pokemon."

"The egg is still unmoving but burning hot." Basil said as he floated in. He had evolved twice over the two months, from Honedge to Doublade (Two swords that float and has eyes) then to Aegislash. He lost the second sword to gain another sash arm, a shield, and his blade was dark gray with a red edge. "That's proves it's healthy but when will it hatch?" Sakura asked. "Some eggs wait longer than others. I'd say months from now at least if it's the breed I think it is." Mew said wisely trying to avoid thinking about that town none shall name. "I'll stay here and watch over the egg while you and Basil will take the challenge." Basil looked confused. "What challenge?" His question was answered by Sakura showing him the mission letter. "Oh! This is a wonderful chance to meet the legendary Ninetales, who's curse almost doomed this world."

"When did that happen?" Sakura asked. "thirty years ago, an oracle warned of a meteor that would have killed everyone if not for a human turned Bulbasaur and Squirtle ascending to the Sky Tower and getting Rayquaza to blast it out of the sky!" Basil gave the abridged version of the tale. "One of the shards caused havoc for us." Chatot grumbles. "How so?" Mew asked tilling her head cutely. "It destroyed Guild Master's stock of Perfect Apples. It took a week to restock." Chatot said as they shivered. The Guild Master's hyper voice temper tantrums were not fun.

A week later

Early morning

Team Night Vale's Base

"This is it." Sakura said setting the heavy crate of fan mail for Team Night Vale near the mailbox of the Bulbasaur shaped building. "Do we knock?" Basil asked. "Interesting visitors for Team Night Vale?" A calm voice said as it was accompanied by two sets of foot falls, one much heavier than the other. Three pokemon walked up, in Alakazam's case, floated. The super IQ pokemon had two spoons and was stroking his chin in thought. He's brown and yellow fox like body was not touching the ground as a blue aura outlined it. Charizard standing smugly as his burning tail flame grew hotter as his desire to challenge them to a spar. "I've never seen a Ninetales using a mirror as a weapon. Nor have I seen flames like that." Charizard said coolly. The final member of the trio was a massive green armored dinosaur, Tyranitar.

"Greetings strangers. We are Team A.C.T. a high ranked Rescue Team." Tyranitar greeted. "Alakazam is our leader. Who are you two?" Sakura answered his question. "We are two of the three founding members of Team Hestia, an Exploration Team, currently Gold Rank. I am called Sakura, and this is Basil." Basil bowed slightly watching them, particularly Charizard. "Is that crate for Team Night Vale? Nothing dangerous I hope." Alakazam asked more interested in why he couldn't read their surface thoughts.

"Fan mail and stuff from the other side of the world. Saving the world of a world ending meteorite tends to get you quite the fan base." Sakura said good natured. This got a chuckle from them. "it does indeed, I imagine the number of legendries they battled helped in that regard." Tyranitar said good natured. "Fame is a double-edged sword. You get just as many enemies as you do allies." Basil said knowingly. "Fame is what lead the romans to target me so heatedly. Too bad for them, I died taking them most of them with me." Basil had a bloodthirsty hint to his voice when he said it.

"Please keep the talks of your glory days in the Greek army to minimum. They are not for the faint of heart." Sakura chided. "Most of you youngsters are soft nowadays." Basil stated jokingly. "And how old are you, old fossil?" Charizard asked. "Over 32,000 since my death on the battlefield. Being a ghost was not amusing. Then I found myself a talking sword." Basil said. "I see, the rumors about honedge being a possessed sword is true. You must have seen a lot wise warrior." Alakazam said in praise.

"What do we have here?" A blastoise said as he stumped up to the base. "Hello Tank. They are bringing fanmail from the other side of the world." Alakazam said "And perhaps something else." Tank had a hard time lifting the crate. "years of letters that will take weeks to answer, lovely." Tank said walking into the base. "Come on inside you two." Sakura and Basil did as Tank said as Team A.C.T. left for a mission.

Inside the Team Night Vale base

The inside was very green, grass carpet, mossy walls, windows without glass and a map on the wall. Stretching was the leader of Team Night Vale, a blueish green quadruped dinosaur with a tree and giant flower growing on his back, standing near an extra soft bed of plant matter that was his bed. "Yggdrasill we've got more fan mail and visitors." Tank said. "I had the feeling something was going to happen soon." Yggdrasill sighed and looked them over. "You finally joined a team, Basil?" Yggdrasill asked interested. "Found someone worthy. She's got Greek connections. You never told me you named you team after a place that is scarier than tartars or that you were named after the World Tree of a human religion."

"It never came up and you weren't interesting in talking to me that much." Yggdrasill answered. "A human that gained the blessing of the kami of the sun and a Greek goddess as a team name. Something tells me you are here for something else." Sakura chuckled. "We were challenged to reach the peak of Mt. Freeze the hard way." Yggdrasill and Tank had nostalgic looks on their faces. "that brings back memories, being on the run, facing the birds of ice and fire, then learning the truth of the legend. Good times." Tank said.

"What did you do to gain her interest?" Yggdrasill asked. "Mew being Mew, trapped me and herself in this dimension because she wanted to trap my father here to have an adventure. She's our team's mascot." Sakura said getting a giggle from the rafters. "Lady Mew has amusing antics now and then." A pink Celebi floated down with grace. "To answer your question your about to form. That are multiple of most of the legendries because one of them is hardly enough to keep order on one world let alone all of them. There is only one Mew, but her other selves are from the Futures and Pasts like we Celebi do from time to time." Celebi said settling on Yggdrasill's flower.

"Why are you here?" Basil asked. This Celebi was one of the legendries that had visited him quite a few times over the many years after he because a pokemon. "just interested to see what Mew's new friend is up to. She's hasn't shown such interest in anyone in a long time." Celebi said looked at Sakura intently. "I'm sorry you had to suffer like that to meet your father." Celebi said sadly, seeing her past. "It's in the past and that worm can't hurt me again." Sakura said firmly. "You bet. Your father burned him down to the soul. The soul be a fine ash, but Zane was wise enough to leave something for Death to judge." Celebi said shuddering.

"He sounds like a true Greek. Never let an unforgivable enemy live to torment you in the future!" Basil declared with pride. "He only does it with the blackest hearted fiends he's encountered." Sakura commented. "Nice to know that he has a moral compass." Tank deadpans. "Getting back on subject, here's a rundown of the pokemon you are likely to encounter." Yggdrasill says, changing the subject, and list the normally found pokemon of the areas they'd be traveling through.

A week later

Mt. Blaze Peak

Sakura and Basil had gotten through Lapis Cave with only minor announce at their food being ruined by poison attacks more than once. Luckily that was more laying around, Mainly apples and gummies. "How much do you want to bet Mew is the reason these gummies taste so good yet are extremely healthy?" Sakura said, eating a red gummy to keep hunger at bay. "That's a sucker's bet. It has her handy work all over it. That's equally true about how the stronger tasting berries, like the tamato berry (a spiky tomato that is spicy as the higher end hot peppers), is only eatable by those that enjoy that extreme flavor." Basil said snorting.

The stopped to rest by the heart of the volcano, a pool of super-hot magma with fumes raising out of the mouth of the volcano. "Is it getting hotter in here?" Basil asked. A majestic cawing sound echoed around then the flaming bird legendary, Moltres showed herself. "You have come to my home uninvited. That can mean only one thing, you wish to challenge me!" Moltres attacked with a burning hot flamethrower at Basil, who's steel type weakness meant it would hurt. Luckily, Sakura was quick enough to send Midnight Eclipse to block the flames.

"She's not backing down." Sakura says swinging her tails as they gained a metallic look, Iron tail. It only dazed Moltres enough to stop the flamethrower. Basil got a Shock Wave attack off in the brief moments it gave them. Moltres shrieked as the electricity arced across her body. She used Heat Wave causing the heat of the area to get quite uncomfortable for Basil. "Protect only does so much! Make her stop before I'm a puddle of metal!" Basil demanded as the green dome over him kept only so much of the heat from him.

Sakura faded from view only to appear above Moltres with a flitching blow to the head, Faint Attack. The heat let up just in time. "Taste my steel!" Basil said as his blade glowed with defense bypassing energy, Sacred Sword. Moltres was slammed into a wall and dropped into the magma pool. Sakura braced herself as she was clipped by Moltres's wing as she was sent flying from the attack. She opened her eyes; she was in the magma but unharmed. Drifting under her was Moltres, who was nursing a slash wound across her chest. "Not many have bested me like that." Moltres said with a look of respect for the two challengers. "This is the first time I've had the chance to experience what Father calls the 'Magma Hot Spring Spa Treatment'. It's rather nice." Sakura comments in a relaxed way.

Moltres laughed in a bird like way. "It is the advantage us fire types have. Come, your partner is worried." Moltres lifted Sakura out of the pool and set her on solid ground. Basil stared then laughs as Sakura groomed her fur. "You are amazing! You landed in what the smith god would use as a forge and are unfazed." Basil praised then turned to Moltres and bowed. "Thank you for this battle." He's tune was polite, but the pride was heard clearly. "You may leave with this. My eternal flame." Moltres says giving Sakura a clear jar with a flame that burned without any fuel. Sakura thanked her for the gift as then left Mt. Braze.

Moltres looked at them musing on what she sensed in the battle. "My friend Hestia has interesting children. One who shares my form and his child who has befriended the flames of the void." She smiled. "They will be facing my snowy sister next. How will they fair when her ice tries to quench that fiery spirit?" The slash wound healed as she soaked in the magma.

A few days later

Frosty Forest

They had reached the entrance to the deeper part of the forest was a white fur dog pokemon with a scythe like horn, Absol, blocked their path. "You are in danger. Be wary of the tide." Absol said then bounded away. "What?" Basil was confused. "Absol, the Disaster Pokemon. They can sense incoming dangers and try to warn others but are sometimes blamed for causing them." Sakura filled him in. "That's rude. You should always take what an Oracle tells you with a grain of salt and don't blame them when you screw up. It's not like they have to tell you anything." Basil said then added "Ok, maybe they are forced to by divine beings, but you still can't blame them when they're giving you the full thing without lies." When Sakura gave him a knowing look.

They pressed onward through the Frosty Grotto to the summit. "You will not continue without impressing me." The icy blue bird, Articuno, declared as her calm cold graze reminded Sakura of her mother in battle, most of the time. Calm and in control of the situation, a beautiful deadly combination. Other times a force of nature as her emotions showed in her attack patterns. "Would you give a reason for the need to challenge us?" Sakura asked charging an attack discreetly. "You must prove your worth as daughter of Lord of the Skies." Sakura sighed. Of course, Father's title would cause her trouble.

She shot forward on fire and caught Articuno in the wing, Flame Wheel. Basil used Brick Break on the other wing, grounding the ice legendary for a time. "Good tactics but it is not enough." Articuno commended. A snowstorm blew in limiting visibility, Powder Snow. "lovely more snow." Basil comments annoyed as he melts into his own shadow, Shadow Sneak. Sakura used Iron tail knock the Ice Ball attacks that were launched at her, but frost was building up on her body until he was frozen stiff. Basil shot up from Articuno's shadow and chained Shadow Sneak with Night Slash. He used his shield to bash the icy shell around Sakura.

Before they laughed another attack, Articuno halted the snowstorm. "I have seen enough. You have proven yourselves to be compassionate beings. You chose to use moves that wouldn't destroy the forest and aided each other in battle. Take this." Articuno said giving Sakura a necklace with a thumb sized jewel that contained a raging snowstorm in it, somehow. "Before we go, do you have any idea why Absol would warn us about the tide?" Sakura asked. "The tide? I fear you may face foes where the elements are against you. Ninetales can point you to someone that can tell you more." Articuno said and they left.

"They are going to fight again. I hope that someone get him to break up the fight before the landscape is changed." Articuno grumbles to herself. The way those two fought was too much like a married couple. She hates how he dries things, yet she is the one causing floods in retaliation for some slight. I best warn the others." Articuno took off as diamond dust snow fell from the clouds. (It's snow that glitters as it falls)

A week later

Mt. Freeze base

They sat at the base of the mountain, looking up. "This is it. The last leg of the challenge. It even colder here than Frosty Forest." Basil commented as they rested. "We're low on apples and gummies. We've dropped tons of stuff into the storage just to make room in the explorer bag." Sakura lists. "these is a handful of blast and sleep seeds. And two pecha berries left for the chance I get poisoned. You're lucky to be immune to poison by being steel type. How do you eat?" Basil demonstrated by draining an apple with his sashes until it was just gone.

Two days later

Mt. Freeze Peak

"How did it take two days to climb that place? Was the dungeon making it harder on purpose? Or was it something else because I swear there was stairs that vanished before we reached them." Basil said eating the last of their supplies to recover. "I saw it to. It had to have been Ninetales using the powers kitsune learn as they gain more tails." Sakura said panting. "Well done. You have reach me and completed my challenge." Ninetales said as her cream-colored fur glistened in the light off the ice. "is there anything you wanted to know before you return to your guild?"

"Yes, why did you send the mission in the first place?" Basil asked. "to meet Zane's daughter and see how she acts under pressure. Her father came to me to request the fur I shed for a project some years ago. You have said project with you, Sakura." Ninetales said as Sakura took out a well-made kyubi kitsune plushy. "Father gave this to me when he saved me. He said he had a vision that it'd be needed." Sakura said cuddling it. "A spell that lets you get hints for the future. Rarely are they useful or clear cut. He used it sparingly. That doll was made by his student, I believe. Very skilled but so cold personality wise." Ninetales muses. "go to the Hill of the Ancients and consult the immortal oracle. Obelius knows him as the Xatu that advised the farmers he helped."

"So that's what happened to Xatu after telling him to sleep before the earthquake hit." Sakura said remembering how Xatu was not with the people as they left for the mainland in the mural. "There danger that threatens this whole world if it isn't stopped." Ninetales said gravely. "Good luck." Sakura and Basil were teleported back to town by their badges.

A week later

Great Canyon

Hill of the Ancients

They reached the place as the sun was setting. Standing still and staring unblinking at the sun was Xatu. With white wings open and a tall green body and head, Xatu looked like a totem pole almost. "O' Oracle of the Legendries. What dangers await us?" Basil asked formally. Xatu said nothing as the last rays of the sun vanished for the day. "CAW! Greetings sister of Lord Harvest, champion of the sun goddess, and friend of the void." Xatu said out of nowhere startling them slightly.

"Obelius is doing well and says, 'you were right'." Sakura says. Xatu nods "Good. Now listen well. The Land and Sea will clash one again and the world shall crumbly if the void does not aid the Sky in the conflict." Xatu intoned. "Groudon and Kyogre are going to have another argument? What is it about this time?" Sakura sighed. "That I do not see yet. Seek out the legendries and rally allies to save as many as you can." Xatu requested.

"Thank you, Oracle. We will do it as we do missions." Basil stated. They bowed and deported for home, telling Team Night Vale on the way there.

A few months later

Wigglytuff guild

It had been a little past six months since Mew's blunder. There was no sign of the land-sea argument and the legendries, guilds, merchants, and even outlaws, who may be bad, but they prefer being alive and captured to being dead and having vital information, were on the lookout for the start of it. But that wasn't important right now, Mew, Basil, and Sakura were in their room at the guild staring at the rocking egg. It had been doing this for the past week and was going to hatch soon. After a few minutes, cracks formed then Mew and Basil ducked as flames short out of the cracks, widen them.

The shell fell away to reveal a three-foot-long larva pokemon with five golden horns a brown body, a face covered by white fuzz and black stumpy legs. Her face was also covered by the large piece of eggshell. She cried loudly until Sakura lifted the shell up to spy bright green eyes watery with tears. "Hello there dear. You took some time to come out of your egg." Sakura said to the Larvesta, who cooed at her. Mew took the eggshells and saved them in a jar. Larvesta looked from Sakura to the others. "My name is Sakura. The pink one is Mew. And the long one with the round shield is Basil." Sakura introduces them. "And you are Sunshine." Sakura tap Sunshine on the 'nose' with a tail. Sunshine clang to her tail and climbed it to her back.

"WHERE THE FIRE?" Loudred, a pokemon that looks like a large mouthed purple creature with speaker ears, boomed rushing in. Sunshine cried out in fear and used she egg move, Zen Headbutt. Loudred was bowled out of the room after Sunshine slammed into him with a glow of psychic energy. Sakura scoped her up and rocked her soothingly. "Don't worry. Noisy Loudred was just being forgetful of how loud he can get." Sunshine fell asleep from using the move and how comfy Sakura's tails were.

"I see Loudred forgot you have an egg about to hatch. Or should I say had." Chatot said smiling at Sakura and Sunshine. "I'll give him a few days without dinner as punishment and a stern warning." Chatot looked at Sakura silently asking to see Sunshine better and she complied. "A shiny Larvesta. Some pokemon with refuse to care for a pokemon that looks or acts different, I'm not sure if Volcarona do this. Nor do I know much about their line beyond the basics. They aren't social Pokémon normally because if too many of them are in one place it gets too hot for the plant life." Chatot said.

"That's ok. Father has been all over the place, so he knows quite a bit about almost all pokemon." Sakura said softly. "Larvesta is Bug and Fire type and requires the longest time to evolve for bug types. Sunshine seems to have the egg move Zen Headbutt so there is likely Venomoth some where in her family tree. I know she'll also have Ember and String Shot as moves." Chatot nodded. "that is true. Who is your father? It's something I've been wondering."

"You waited until we reached Master Triple Star Rank to ask that?" Sakura asked amused. "You've been working so hard I didn't realize I didn't ask you yet. You are on the cusp of Guild Master Rank, which means you have the same rank as the most elite teams." Chatot said. "My father is Zane." Sakura answered. "wait. Zane? The legendary freelance treasure hunter and explorer Zane? No wonder you are so well informed. He's got mountains of fan mail a year. Only reason we know he's alive is him answering the mail." Chatot said softly by with excitement bubbling under the surface. "Before I forget, your gradation exam is in two weeks, be ready."

Two weeks later

Wigglytuff Guild

The exam was going through a mystery dungeon, finding the 'treasure' (a Perfect apple) and then fighting the rest of the guild disguised as outlaws (they deny doing it). There was a big party, and everyone had partied late into the night, save for Sakura and Sunshine, who got tired before midnight. It was the next day that Team Hestia, on a mission to catch one of the more dangerous outlaws, were greeted by grave news. "It's stating! I saw it! The fool attacked Groudon claiming Kyorge asked him to attack Groudon to show how weak he is." The outlaw screamed as Officer Megnazone had him sent to prison. The UFO looking pokemon, with magnets and screws on its body, stated in a electric sounding voice. "BZZT THIS IS TROUBLING. IT IS TIME TO SEND THE TEAMS TO STOP THE FIGHTING. WE WILL CONTACT THE OTHER GROUPS BZZT." Sakura sighed. "Sunshine stay with Mew. We need to stop two big grumps from wrecking everything. Be good for me please." She kissed Sunshine's forehead. "Momma." Sunshine said, her first word. "Momma." She said again. "That's right I'm your mother." Sakura said.

Five days later

Heart of the feud

Sakura was running and dodging attacks as the feuding legendries brawled for a moronic outlaw's plan to cause chaos. "I never sent anyone to attack you, you did that!" Kyogre bellowed quite put off that she was being blamed. "No incinerated the fool that said you set him. Don't lie you sea hag!" Groudon yelled back. That made things worse. The attacks got more frequent and Rayquaza was frozen on the new landmass Groudon had made I the middle of the ocean. Sakura ran up to the frozen legendary and started to thaw him out.

Once his head was free, he stated quickly. "A trio of pokemon outlaws are behind this mess. They are totally insane and fit they were fulfilling a prophecy to make the world anew without mystery dungeons." Sakura was shocked. "One was killed but groudon and Kyorge most likely killed the other one. How were you frozon?" Sakura filled him in. "This crazy froslass ambushed me and left me here to watch." A scream made them look to she the female kimono wearing ice ghost pokemon getting killed. "This is not good. The perpetrators are gone but those two looks like they don't care." Rayquaza stated.

Sakura had an idea, a crazy one at that. "Can you get me close to them? I've got an attack that with stop them." Sakura said working faster. After an few minutes, the ice was weak enough to break out of. Sakura jumped on Rayquaza's back as he flew to the battle. "Binding Silence!" Sakura declared as chains of void flames shot from Midnight Eclipse stopped the warring legendries from moving, attacking, or even talking. Downside was that using on such powerful being was taxing for her.

"You were being fooled by a third party of doom's day cultists. Please stop fighting." She pleaded as her reverses ran out. The chains sputtered out and all she had was hop as she flopped on Rayquaza's head. "Wait. You didn't send someone to insult and weaken me?" Groudon asked, the chains had suppressed their rage momentarily as a side-effect. "If I wanted to insult you, I would have don't it to your face." Kyogre said annoyed. She huffed "I should have noticed the trick when that fool used big words to insult me." Before the fight could restart, Rayquaza blasted a Hyper Beam between them. "Don't you dare start again." He said in a voice that scared the two a lot. "You got it!" Groudon said fleeing underground. "Sorry!" Kyorge yells dives into deeper waters.

Rayquaza sighed, "I hate when this happens. Another continent to have fixed up. At least none of the other ones were damaged too badly." He flies towards Treasure Town. "That is quite an attack you used." He said starting some small talk. Tiredly she explains "using the Void Flame I bind targets in chains, suppressing movement, the ability to attack or harm, speech, and any negative emotions. It's very draining to us it on beings equal to me." Rayquaza figured that. "And stronger the being compared to you causes the drain to get much faster bigger the gap is. You can't even move a tail in your state. Crazy foolish hero." He said chuckling. "For saving the world, I grant your team the Secret Rank. A rank given only to two other explorer teams. Scizor, a solo team, and Team Nike. They've done so much for this world they earned it like you did."

A few days later

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon world

Battlefied Continent (the newly created landmass)

"Only a few days left before the lock if gone." Sakura mused watching the landed become green and full of life. "But's been so fun!" Mew pouted as Sunshine tried to use string shot to grab her tail. "You almost had it." Mew encouraged as she always moved the tail away at the last moment. "I'll miss you General Sakura." Basil said whipping away a tear. "I won't be gone for good. Besides you've got all the new teams to help. When this new land mass it finished mystery dungeons will be popping up all over it and the rookie teams will be looking for someone exercised to show them the ropes." Sakura told him amused.

Basil's eye lit up. "That's right! I get to show them the ropes and they will want to be as strong as our team." Basil seemed to be funny to Sunshine because she giggled. "Hey look! They are building statue of you in the new town." Mew said pointing at the paved brink center of Battle Port, the name of the being built town on the coast of the landmass. The statue looked like it was going to be of her chaining up the legendries on Rayquaza's head, but it was just out of the planning stages. "Save the world and they immortalize you for better or worse." Sakura sighed. "I just want to relax a few days."

"I know a place." Mew said.

The next day

The Flower Pocket

Isn't this a nice place? I had Palkia make it for me." Mew said. They were in a pocket dimension full of flowers, toys, berries growing everywhere, and not a single pokemon in sight. "So, it's a 'Me time' space for you?" Basil guessed. "Yup! It's peaceful as you can get. You unwind and relax before we head home." Mew said proudly. Sunshine got a lucky shot and cocooned Mew gleefully. "great job Sunshine!" Mew said as only her face was free. "Momma!" Sunshine said sitting on the bound Mew. "Mew!" Sunshine said, her second word. "Yes, you caught Mew. Much better than any trainer ever did." Sakura and Mew share an inside joke. They spend the next two days there before splitting up. Basil stayed at the guild to help new teams and Sakura, Sunshine, and Mew head for the Land of Departure with a loot.

A few day later

Home Dimension

Land of Departure

"Mother I'm home!" Sakura called in her human form. Sunshine was holding on to her back and looking over her shoulder at Aqua, who looked heavily pregnant. "Oh Sakura! How was your time? Who are these two?" Aqua asked. "Hi! I'm Mew." Mew greeted. "Momma's momma?" Sunshine chattered in pokespeech, slightly confused. "Yes, that's your Grandmother." Sakura said before introducing her to Aqua. "This is Sunshine, a larvesta that hatch from an egg I saved. She's only a few weeks old so she doesn't say much yet."

Aqua was torn between being angry for making her a grandmother so soon, and joy that Sakura was so caring, she blamed her mood swings. Sunshine crawled over to Aqua. "she is so cute. Too bad your father was not home to be here." Aqua had Sunshine relaxing next to her on the bed. "Nice to meet you Aqua! And Electra Nyx Laskaris." Mew said teleporting back to her dimension. "I like that name. Your Father found a good one." Aqua mused. "What is Father doing?" Sakura asked. "He's helping with a sports festival on a superhero-based earth world. He gets to test their metal if it's a non-fatal method. You should have seen his face when they gave him the OK. Like a kid with a shiny new toy." Aqua laughed. She adjusted the bed, so she was setting up more. "Come and watch with me." Aqua says as Sakura sits next to Sunshine as the tv Zane rigged to pick up broadcast from other worlds was tuned to the right world.

On screen was a guy with blonde hair like a cockatoo's crest, pro hero Present Mic, and the Pro Hero Eraser Head. "If you're just tuning in, folks. You picked a good time. It's time for the big event before tournament, the TEAM BATTLE!" Present Mic was announcing bombastically. "In this stage the participants will be working together to take down the 'super boss'." Eraser Head sighed annoyed as he dryly explained the rules. "Quick disclaimer, Nintendo has given the OK for this task."

The scene changed to show the heroes in training staring as a super-sized MechaBowser bot stomped out into view. "Father is piloting that?" Sakura asked. "and having the time of his life." Aqua said giggling as she remembered her husband explaining what he would be doing. On the TV, Zane doing a good impression of Bowser as he said, "Come at me heroes! Mehaha!" Present Mic yelled "Begin!"

The task was 'find and attack the weak points' to defeat the super boss as a team. Of course, the rocket powered fists, giant fireballs and heat seeking shell spike missiles made it much harder. After one of the weak points, behind the left knee, with hit, the missions started to appear. "Here comes the Mechanical Goomba, bob-bombs, and koopa toopa! How will you handle this bot army, heroes?" Present Mic added as the crowd cheered.

The student with the tape quirk was using the mecha Bob-bombs at projectiles with the stronger students doing the throwing. As more weak points were hit, the minions revealed wings and flew with built-in jet packs. "This is fun to watch, right Sunshine?" Sakura said munching some snacks. Sunshine cheered wordlessly as Aqua was telling Zane to do his best.

When all but one weak point was hit, the bot got 'angry' as steam billowed out of it and a roar of anger sounded. It leaned in a breathed a wide spray of flames, destroying the poor bots that did dodge like the remaining students did. On the topic of the students, only a dozen was left. The rest were out of the running because they were too injured. The last weak point was on the head, they just needed to reach it without getting burned.

"This is the final stretch! Who will land the decisive blow!" Present Mic said on the edge of his seat. A few minutes later he said, "And it's over! Hitoshi Shinso and Mei Hatsume get bonus points for delivering the last attack!" The bot fell appear in a spectacular fashion as the crowd cheered even louder. Zane could be seen getting out of the pile of metal with the help of the remaining minion bots. "Let's give a round of applause to the pilot, Zane Laskaris!" Present Mic said as Zane waved leaving the field to get check over by Recovery Girl.

With Zane

Quirk Earth

medic room

"other than a little rest you'll be fine." Recovery Girl, a short old lady with a syringe style hair piece holding the bun, a syringe cane in her yellow gloved hand, a doctor's coat and vizor on her face, said. "Thanks, I was having so much fun that I lost take of how much energy I used." Zane said laying down on the cot. "Oh! Hey Shoto. I noticed you used both ice and fire." Zane said seeing the son of Endeavor laying on another cot. "More like overused them. He burned himself out because of not practicing with his fire half as much as his ice. Kid these days." Recovery Girl says as she goes to see who was knocking on the door.

"after an interesting article I started to realize his plans for me don't matter." Shoto commented drinking cold water. "Yeah I read it not long after it came out. That writer is gutsy." Zane said. An argument happening at the door made them pause and listen. It seemed that Endeavor was demanding entry to 'talk' with his son, more like berate him for failing the task and praise him for finally using his fire. But Recovery Girl was not letting him in because he was disrupting patients' recovery. "She takes nonsense from no one." Zane says as the people on the cots laugh knowing how firm she was with her rules.

A few minutes later, she came back looking annoyed. "Honestly that man is so pigheaded. Trying to tell me that my rules aren't important." Zane nodded "Just remind him the next time his getting treatment from you. That will teach him not to mess with the medic." Recovery Girl smiled. "That's true. How is your wife doing?" Zane's mood shined "the due date in six weeks. I can't wait to hold my new daughter." Recovery Girl nodded with pride. "You will be a great father to her. You did wonderfully with your adopted daughter. So, your first born will be in good hands."

"you have an adopted kid?" Tsuyu Asui, the frog quirk student, asked. "Yep! Sakura has become a beautiful young woman of 18 years. But the boys better prove they love her for herself and not her looks or my wealth. I refuse to let her get tricked by some playboy." Zane said passionately. "Not that she'll be easily fooled or is weak." His phone rang, it was Aqua. "Hello honey did you enjoy the show?" Zane asked. "It was amusing to see you play around with the kiddies." She joked, riling up some of the students. "I know they don't stack up to the pro heroes yet, but they found the weak points and defeated the bots in 20 minutes. That's a third of the predicted time Samuel computed two months ago." Zane stated with pride.

"I'm worried about that green haired one. He just broke one of his fingers to win his match." Aqua said. "His quirk is trickier to use than most. It's a lot power and relies on his body being trained to handle it. He had to be told how to use it by a pro hero. Who knows how long he's had it and didn't know it? If you want to complain about not training him enough, call All Might." Zane slipped a lie in there without anyone out of the loop noticing. "I'll do that." Aqua said sounding angry and hanging up. "Oh dear, All Might will be getting quite a scolding." Recovery Girl mused with a hint of amusement.

A few hours later

Quirk Earth

Dagobah Municipal Beach Park

All Might was sitting on the sand in his true form looking at Zane annoyed. "Did you have to sick your wife on me? She berated me for not teaching young Midoryia enough not to injury himself, then started to cry making me feel worse. I tried to explain but she called me 'an insensitive meat head' and hung up." All Might explained, more confused than anything else. "soon as the baby is born, she'll be back to her normal self. Besides, you do need to train him better." Zane said, sitting next to All Might.

"it's was a fun time helping with the sports festival. Ochaco Uraraka's victory over that nitro sweet kid in the finals was an interesting turn of events." Zane comments. "Yes, I was surprised at her tactics with the rubble and her antigravity quirk. It's a shame her body gave out after the victor was declared. We had to push the medal ceremony back for to recover and to clean up the arena." All Might said proud for his students. "How did you get Nintendo to allow you to do that?" All Might really wanted to know. "I have connections with people they know and respect quite well." Zane said amused.

A scroll appeared in Zane's lap. "Another Reaper Task I hope it doesn't take too long to finish." Zane grumbled. All Might look that at the scroll with a feeling a dread. "A Reaper Task? As in the grim reaper?" Zane nodded breaking the seal and opening the scroll. "I'm one of the Death Council's 'Reaper' because I made an agreement to help them out, complete voluntary from case to case. They have something that needs to die, and they grant me a power to grant death and when on the job I look like the Death who was assigned to me." Zane outlined.

"And this one case is?" All Might asked. "This is a treat. Kill that justice obsessed lava mutt and that scum bag Blackbeard while saving Ace and Whitebeard." Zane comments. All Might knew what world Zane was talking about. "Didn't you have to kill someone one knew for being unkillable in that world that's mostly water?" All Might guessed. "That got me a bounty of 5 billion after I cashed in his corpse. My first bounty too, they called me the 'Sea Reaper', then they bumped it up to 10 billion after I offed the so called 'gods' they worked for. They were no dragons, just a bunch of rich black hearted scumbags. I'm effectively the greatest enemy of the World Government and they only know me by my reaper persona." Zane said like it was biggest magic trick. He signed the scroll and his appearance was replaced by a guise of death.

"It was nice helping you by I've got a job." Zane voice was inhuman sounds as he shot into a shadow in the sky. "That's what his death looks like? Nice touch with a skull as a hat." All Might commented.

Elsewhere

One Piece World

Marineford Marine HQ

As the melee raged, the marines wanting to execute Portgas D. Ace for the crime of being the son of the Pirate King, and the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies wanting to save Ace, Zane appeared in the room that Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard holed himself in. "Well, well, well, I came for one kill and found six more targets on my pending list." Zane said with scythe ready to swing. The dark-skinned kin slaying pirate turned just in time to see the deadly arc of the blade as it passed through all seven of them.

Like dominos they felt dead, but without injury, for the blade cut the chains that kept the soul in the body. "Death will be happy those six were dealt with. Now for the mutt." Zane vanished and reappeared on Whitebeard ship, the Moby Dick. "If it isn't the Sea Reaper. Not here for my soul I hope." Whitebeard, the giant of a man with a white crescent moon mustache, said with grin. He had a very large naginata called Murakumogiri that was just right for a man of over 21 feet tall. "Edward Newgate, Death wishes for you and your son to live longer than this battle, but the mutt is on the list." Zane said looking right at Akainu, sitting with the other two admirals.

"You! What are you doing here!" Sengoku the Buddha, the marine fleet admiral with a short black afro wearing think rimed glasses and a ridiculous hat with bird on it. "reaping some souls. I've already reaped the Blackbeard Pirates and have a mutt to put down." Zane said as the lower rank marines flinched back at his voice. Zane took to the air on the black feathered wings this form gave him. In an instant, he had grabbed Ace and thrown him at Whitebeard, who caught him in a loving hug, sliced Sengoku's hat to ribbons and reached the three admirals.

The lazy dark-haired Aokiji looked at Zane with a half-hearted glare. "Not even going to try to attack me, ice cube?" Zane quipped. "Ice has no effect on you, reaper." He answered without caring. The yellow pinstriped suit wearing 'light man', Kizaru, commented condescendingly slowly, "So scary what can we do for you today?" Zane focused on the cigar smoking marine, Akainu. "I've taken the liberty of withdrawing the bounty you owe me for killing the Blackbeard pirates from your vaults." Zane's comment enraged Akainu because Zane was spitting on his Absolute Justice. "You will be killed for your crimes Justice demands it!" He roared. Zane wasn't fazed. "Justice for the greedy whims of your dead masters?" Seeing their shocked looks, he asked "Oh did not tell you that I killed every one of the world nobles? That's right! The celestial Dragons are dead and gone!" Zane shouted as the Den Den Mushi, living snail 'phones' broadcast his worlds to the whole world.

Everyone looked at him shocked, mainly because to even look at the germophobic nobles wrong could get you killed. "What have you done?" Sengoku said as everyone realized that the newest Yonko, the four strongest pirates in the world, (Zane got the title after offing Kaido) had dethroned the highest power and lived to tell the tale. Riots and revolts would be starting as the oppressed would be inspired, signaling the start of a new era.

Akainu attacked Zane with a wave a magma but fell dead as the scythe cut through it and him without resistance as Ace's brother arrived. "Monkey D. Luffy! Become stronger and find One Piece! Long live the future Pirate King!" Zane bellowed before vanishing as the marines with beaten back as the pirates escaped. Zane's bounty didn't increase but his reputation became more rooted in history of this world.

Six weeks later

Land of Departure

Zane cradled his newborn daughter as his wife recovered them the stress of labor. "Welcome to the world Electra Nyx Laskaris." He said smiling. She had Aqua's hair, if the blue wispy hair was anything to go by. Artemis, the goddess, smiled. Zane had asked her to help with childbirth and she was happy to help. "despite your problems, you are a male I respect." She said patting Sunshine as she left the room to teleport.

"Here you go, Sakura." Zane said passing her sister over carefully. Sakura stared at the baby in wonder. There was something about her sister that reminded her of Sunshine. Maybe it was the innocence they had as newborns, or maybe it was the connection of family she felt. She gave her mother the baby to give them some privacy. Outside of the room, Zane asked her, "How do you think she'll be growing up?" Sakura look at him before saying, "No idea but she will have the best big sister ever."

Two years later

Monster town

Asgore's house

"Finally, she's asleep." Zane sighed as Electra's amethyst eyes closed and breathing slowed to sleepy levels. She was in a baby rocker that was made to make babies sleepy with it's slow rocking. "I know Aqua said she needed a nap, but she just didn't want to nap." Zane said softly. Toriel giggled a little. "Children with high energy hardly even want to nap. Being at the Land of Departure is getting noisy with the new Keybladers training, as you said when you came here today." She said understanding his plight. Asgore had been in the front yard pruning bushes.

"Zane! There is pink haired female looking for you!" Asgore yelled into the house, but not waking the baby. "I'll keep an eye on her." Toriel said.

Outside of the house

Hello there! I am Haruko Haruhara. Did you happen to find a moped and guitar with a ripcord on it? I recently lost these things, and I defiantly wasn't messing with temporal technology at the time they went missing." A young looking 'human' woman who looked to be 20 at the latest with short pink hair, a face that was a little cat like and yellow-green eyes, said sweetly. She was wearing a biker outfit that consisted of red gloves, white boots, black pants, a tan long sleeved shirt, a sleeveless red leather jacket, clear riding googles, and a white scarf around her neck.

"I have seen them. I bought them over 30,000 years ago and they are not for sale." Zane said firmly. This was one lady he did not want around his daughter right now, even if he wanted her autograph. Haruko cycled through emotions in an exaggerated fashion before ending on a calm annoyance. "Drat! I knew something like this would happen. Wait! How are you around if you are telling the truth? You look human?" She somehow changed into a scientist outfit and was poking and prodding him, taking notes that were a little insulting. Like 'smells like a fire pit' and 'might be dying his hair'.

After five minutes of this she pulls out a scanner and does a full body scan. "Oh! Time travel plus a cocktail of other factors." She said then froze as a symbol flashed on the scanner. "You met Atomsk? The trace is old as the initial time travel trace. That means he sold you the stuff!" She grinned a shark like grin. "What did the person that sold you the stuff look like?" Zane described the old man. "Tell me, how did you meet him?" Zane paused. "At a curb were by ride broke down. He ran a shop I swear wasn't there the day before." As he tailed off, she filled in the blanks.

"The temporal tech sent the stuff to the past and a fragment of Atomsk likely hitched a ride, I know because my chain reacted." She shows the chain attached to the 'shackle on her arm. "He might even have caused your ride to break at that perfect moment. He offers you a great deal and you took it. What did the contract say?" She asked hungerly. "That I was fully responsible for anything that happen to me because what I purchased, including displacement of my person when using the turbo…" Zane realized what happened.

"Exactly, he planned for you to time travel so the fragment could rejoin the whole. The turbo isn't strong enough to send you through time but a fragment of Atomsk is another story. You can keep the stuff and this too. See ya another time." She pats him on the cheek and gives him a signed photo of her, fully clothed thankfully. She speeds off into the sky with smug grin as Zane tried to process what happened. "She is as crazy as I expected, leaving more questions than answers in the end." Zane stated.

"You said it. Her and Atomsk are a mystery even to me. Medical Mechanica, on the other hand, is just a group that want to ruin anything fun about the universe." The Master of Masters said as he popped up behind Zane. "Your daughter is so adorable and so full of potential. She'll be an amazing keyblade master after you train her." The Master of Masters praised. "Do we need more keybladers with the Foretellers training the new unions?" Zane asked sighing. The Master of Masters nodded wisely. "Indeed, my students, including Luxu, have a total of 600 keybladers spread across five public unions and a black ops type one lead by Luxu, but three is a need for Keyblade Masters that are 'freelancers' of sorts. They have looser rules compared to the unions and have closer bonds with their masters because it's only a few students at most for each Keyblade Master to train at a time." The Master of Masters explained.

"Let her have a childhood. Make training a game. Have fun and make lasting memories." The Master of Masters continued in his normal demeaner. "It tends to make the lessons 'stick' for years. Besides, you had similar plans for her training as a Child of the Hearth." Zane understood this perfectly. "What worries me is what Celebi hinted at when she heard the name I chose for Electra. Add to that Sakura got her Sunshine as a playmate/first pokemon because Mew wanted her pokemon journey to be special." Zane comments.

"Yes, that universe's full of interesting encounters. If beings that can time travel have taken interest in Electra, then she's important to them. Take it from me, let things happen as they happen. Her tenth birthday is a little under eight years away." The Master of Masters pauses and pulls out a present. "It took longer than expected to get together, but she'll love it." Zane takes the gift a little worried. "Don't worry! It's perfectly safe. I found this world, looks like another earth, and was held at sword point by this guy in a red jacket. He wanted to know if I had anything to do with so demon attack." The Master of Masters had a hurt pride tune to his voice.

"Why would I dabble with demons? Anyways, we talked, his name was Dante by the way, and turns out he knows you. I explained I was looking for a gift for your daughter and he said he'd help out." Zane groaned. This gift was not going to be normal. "He got his brother, a real stick in the mud, and his nephew to brainstorm with him what would be a good gift. It was amusing to watch." The Master of Masters was laughing as Zane's worries worsened.

"The nephew finally called his girlfriend or something and they wanted to get her 'magic wand' because most girl love that." The Master of Masters said annoyed. "Good thing I gave a better. Then the fun part began, making it." The Master of Masters' glee not a good sign. "We gathered essences of all the elements and synthesizing minerals we needed. I had help making it from this woman named Nico." At this point Zane just wanted to know what it was. "What did you make?" The Master of Masters showed him a sketch of an orb with things inside it. "This is an Elemental Aquarium, a world inside of a basketball sized orb full of elementals interacting like they would in the elemental plains but on a smaller scale and completely safe."

"So, you got her a magic fishbowl. What's the 'cool' part about it?" Zane asked. "It's a world made for her. She can watch the world grow and evolve and she grows up. Sure, one of the factions may kill the world but if that happens it will 'reset' and a she gets to see another possible outcome. It's the perfect way to show here how even small choices effect the world around you. In other words, an edutainment gift." The Master of Masters said with a flourish. "I made sure to add any and all essences into it, be it demonic, holy, chaotic, or orderly."

"What stops them from leaving the world and invading this one?" Zane asked. "The Prime Elements, the 'gods' of each elemental factions who are the only ones to be able to be aware and interact with those watching them. After each 'reset' happens some of the lesser elementals with be carried over to the next 'world' like new game plus. The Prime Elements will remember everything no matter how many 'resets' happen." The Master of Masters outlined. "An interesting gift. Even if she's too young to understand the true value of it yet." Zane says.

"I'm not that good at kids' toys. Training people to fight and make magical stuff, that's my forte. That and studying the mysteries of the universe. See you later!" The Master of Masters did his disappearing trick as Asgore came around the corner. "What odd people you know. Lunch is ready." Asgore said as they entered the house.

Inside the house

"A wonderful lunch, Toriel." Zane said helping her clean up. "It wasn't anything special. The food you gave Electra smelled better than the baby food I've made in the past." Toriel shifted the conversion. "The blessing of Hestia helps homecooked meals taste better and with skill and training it can surpass five-star restaurants." Zane said peeking into the living room to see Frisk and Asriel armed with a cat toy as Sootpuff batted at it and Electra giggled, clapping. "That is so sweet." Zane says taking a picture and recording them discreetly.

"I love moments like this. Those rare childhood moments that you can use to embarrass your kids when they bring a friend over as teens." Zane says softly snickering. "Undyne was interested to see more of that fighting style of yours. I think you called it 'Pankration'." Toriel said with her distaste for violence in her tone. "You got it right. It's one of the oldest fighting styles on Earth. Hailing from Ancient Greece, Pankration, uses boxing and throwing moves mainly. It's all about the core idea of reaching the enemy and destroy them with devastating blows." Zane explained. "I've added my own spin to it over the years for non-lethal encounters and such."

Toriel was interested in how he learned such a fighting style. When she asked, he laughed. "I learned it from the Legendary Trainer of Heroes Chiron. The old centaur has taught many of my family this style and then they customized it as they needed. It's better for them to know it if they need it later, than be helpless." Zane said wisely. Then he looked worried. "Where's Sunshine? She isn't in the living room." Toriel was unsure of her whereabouts. "She was here for lunch then she checked who was knocking but I don't remember her coming back. Did she leave the house?"

Zane stopped recording the kids to look around. The front door was up and there was a sweet smell lingering there. Zane followed the smell.

Ten minutes later

Monster Town

Muffet's Bakery

Zane walked into the bakery and spotted Muffet sliding trays into the display cases. "Hello Zane. Sunshine is helping me bake while I wait for the repairman to come and look at the oven." Muffet greeted warmly. "So that's where she went. Did you send someone to Asgore's house?" Zane asked starting to get the picture. Muffet was confused and informed him she had been to too busy to do that. "Sounds like you spider scouts asked for you." Zane said as a spider gave him a doughnut and took a few coins in return.

"I hope you aren't mad at them." Muffet asked. "No, I'm just annoyed that Sunshine didn't tell me where she was going. Tell her to come back in few hours." Zane says leaving enjoying the spider doughnut. In the back of the bakery was the kitchen where Sunshine was acting as the oven, blowing flames in a controlled manner.

Later that day

Undyne's house

"You killed like five dummies today! You Greeks are so cool!" Undyne praised with a wide grin. Zane on the other hand was trying to get his arm out of the busted training dummy. "This is the happiest day of my life!" The ghost in the dummy said as it passed away. "I think that gut punch got my arm trapped." Zane said as he failed to get it free. Undyne's eye blinked and she looked closely. "looks like the metal ribs are trapping your arm. Can you still move your hand?" She asks. Zane waves his fingers as his hand was stinking out the back of the dummy as 'blood' and 'organs' pooled out of the holes.

"Do you think Dr. Alphys installed a something to destroy the dummy like the other four ones?" Zane asked nodding to the four dummies off to the side turning to ash on their own. "There must be a bug in the thing. Let's call her." Undyne calls her girlfriend "Hey, Alphys! You know those ultra-realistic training dummies you made me? Well Zane's got his arm stuck in one and it's not self-destructing like it should." Undyne listens then hangs up. "She'll be over in an hour."

An hour later

Alphys looked at the damage critically. "I forgot to add the program to this one, must be an earlier one. If you melt it down, you should be able to trigger the manual trigger." Alphys commented backing up. A quick blast of heat reduced the dummy to ashes. Zane stretched the stiff arm to get the blood flowing right. "It shouldn't be possible to do that with a punch. Must be because you are human. I'll need to twitch the next batch." Alpys mumbled to herself heading to her lab with the data.

A week later

Digiworld

Dark Area

Hidden Depths of the Dark Ocean

Zane in his human form inserted the seven 'code keys' into the corresponding slots on the wall in the blank looking round chamber. Electra was strapped on Madleomon's chest as Lilithmon and Beelzemon watched for anything. "Is something supposed to happen? Because I didn't have any knowledge about how this place was made or what's in it. I don't even have all the memories of the first Beelzemon." The three eyed demon bike Digimon asked. "I helped make this place but only two know what lies in the vault. Lord Daemon, by extension, Lord Zane and that bratty angel, who is still data drifting about." Lilithmon said.

"Madleomon confused. Why is vault important?" Madleomon asked scratch his shaggy head. The seven seals appeared then merged on the floor. A book on a pedestal rose up from the center of the floor. Zane picked up the book and noted the title. 'Digiworld source code'. "It's just as he said. The code that created a living digital world from scratch. The greatest piece of knowledge from the SOURCE of the Digiworld. If it was known Daemon stole this then he would have been permanently deleted.

"Ya Daddy!" Electra cried clapping. "Kitty!" She patted Madleomon as Zane removed the 'code keys' and put the book in a black box, to prevent the book from being detected. "Your little munchkin isn't scared in the slighted by us. What can we expect in the future?" Beelzemon asked as Electra babbled half formed words and some fully formed ones. "The darling little princess will be a strong independent woman just like her mother." Lilithmon said as cooing as Electra grabbed the golden clawed finger that was softly poking her. "She'll got a strong grip already."

A booming voice echoed down the opening above them. "Have you retrieved it?" It was Leviamon, the red scaled crocodile mouthed sea monster Demon Lord. "Yes! We have the loot and will be leaving the promised payment for letting us enter your domain." Zane said cordially. "Good. It is good to have allies who understand my hospitality." Leviamon said.

An hour later

The shore of the Dark Ocean

"Bye fishy!" Electra waved at Leviamon as he sunk back into the depths of the black water. He viewed her as adorable, but he sensed her potential. She was untainted by the darkness of his domain, almost like that digiqueen of light who interested him briefly. He had better things to do.

"See you later!" Beelzemon says mounting his monster of a motorcycle, Behemoth, and rode away loudly. "He still has to be the loudest as always." Lilithmon comments opening a gate to Zane's digikingdom in the Dark Area. "Vroom Vroom!" Electra said with glee. "Yes, that's the sound a motorbike makes. You are so smart princess." Lilithmon praised as they walked through the gate.

A few days later

The World (Zane recreated the game from the dot Hack games)

Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground

Hulle Granz Cathedral

"And this is one of the 'Lost Grounds' that were created based on the epic I used to as inspiration for the newly born world. It is not exactly like the games, that seemed to have become lost to this universe for the most part, like the eight phases aren't going to attack every player to prevent the birth of the 'ultimate AI'." Zane said as he showed Aqua around his new world. They sat down at in the front pews. "who is the girl?" Aqua asked looking at a statue of a girl with long straight hair wearing a long dress and shawl with an infinity brooch at her throat.

"She is Aura, or she will be." Zane said as a shadow person sat near them. She had no features save for a feminine body shape. This was Morganna Mode Gone, the AI created to care for Aura, the World, and the player that would be coming here. Zane gave her purpose beyond caring for Aura, unlike Harald the creator of the World in the games. "Morganna, you met my children already and this is my wife, Aqua." Zane said to the silent shadow person. Around them, Aqua felt a feeling of nice greeting. "She hasn't learned to talk yet?" Aqua asked.

"She's still young. Aura is even younger. She is the caretaker of this world and all that come to being in it." Zane said trusting Moranna Mode Gone not to be like her game counterpart down the road. A window with a winged red letter. "This much be urgent." Zane says and taps the letter. IT opened to show an email from a colleague who was interested in the work Zane did with AI, Akihiko Kayaba. 'Viral attack on launch day, log out lockdown protocol active trapping ten thousand players. Permadeath averted' was all it said. "Now would be a good time to explain how Aura will be learning stuff." Zane said closing the window.

"The main idea is to gather information from many sources about just about everything. My colleague, who I haven't have a chance to meet in person yet, created a system of complete immersion for gamers to enjoy call FullDive, and the flagship game for it, Sword Art Online." Zane said showing her the trailer for the game. "So, no magic and hundred floors, sounds fun. What was the email talking about?" Aqua asked. "He had some ideas that would have been the death of the system, so I persuaded him not do it. The Logout Lock down Protocol prevents the players from logging out if the system deems it bad for their health, like a virus made to transfer their digitized minds to a different fulldive space as they log out." Zane said angry.

"The one behind the virus wanted to kidnap players for reasons that you don't like?" Aqua asked dreading what someone could do to the minds they kidnapped. "The only way they can leave the game know is if they clear the hundred floors. He ran out of time to add another way because of the pressure that was put on him to release it on time." Zane said annoyed. "I better go help him sort out the issues." They return home and part ways as Zane heads for the earth his colleague lived on.

 **Author's Note: This is the longest chapter yet and a lot happened. Zane's first-born Electra is born. Zane created a world that will be important later. He visited Camp Campbell and picked up some allies. Chaos was caused in other worlds and more of Zane's trips were revealed. Next up Zane will be helping with SAO among other things. See you next time!**


	20. The Game

**Welcome! The Earth Zane is visiting isn't just SAO related, it also Steven Universe Earth. Yes, it will be an interesting world. Spoilers for the Steven Universe series and movie. And, spoilers for SAO. Infinity Train, RWBY, the DC universe, Yugioh (more than one of the series).**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 20: The Game**

Gem Sector

Gem Earth

Beach City

Zane had just left the Land of Departure a day ago and entered a place he really didn't like to enter. The Gem Sector was a section of the vast universe that was away from most of the rest of the universe. The Gem Homeworld ruled over most of this sector with an iron fist until a few years when the Crystal Gems, a rebel group, made peace with them. Worlds were given the chance to be free and things were looking up. The Diamonds' touchy response to travelers was why Zane hadn't dared to visit his colleague in person.

As he passed over Beach City, home of the Crystal Gems, he stopped his moped and saw the giant drill, with a pink heart cut gem on it, injecting a pink poison into the hillside, it was hard to miss the chemical smell, dead cracked ground, and the fight atop the machine. The drill, an injector, exploded, leaving a crater. Sighing, he knew he had had a detour to finish.

He landed in the crater and saw the combatants from the top of the Injector. First was a teen about 16 with puffy black hair and wearing sandals, jeans a blue shirt with a star on it, and a pink jacket. So, this was the half human son of Pink Diamond aka Rose Quartz of the Crystal Gems. Next to him was a pink gem that reminded him of a slightly creepy version of the 'rubber hose' animation cartoon style with her gem being an upside-down pink heart on her chest.

"Steven Universe, Son of Pink Diamond, explain why the area looked to be rotting away." Zane demanded with a stormy glare. The cartoony gem hides behind Steven, bending her body like a rubber hose style cartoon. "One of Mom's problems happened." Steven said with a shield brought to bear, protecting the gem behind him. Zane sighed loudly as a van rolled up and the rest of the Crystal Gems jumped out.

Pearl, a graceful ballerina with sky blue eyes, peach short hair, wearing a blue jacket over form fitting cloths that show how streamlined her body was. Her gem was a white pearl on her forehead, and she brandished a spear. Amethyst, a purple skinned and hair punk rocker looking gem who was on the shorter side. Her gem was a purple Amethyst on her chest, and she had gem spiked whip. The last one of the main Gem was Garnet, a tall Gem Fusion with reddish purple skin, almost black puffy square afro, and frameless shades that hide her three eyes. Her gems were on her hands and her weapon was gauntlets. Oddly enough she was only one not ready to attack him.

"Don't worry Steven we got your back!" Amethyst said cracking her whip. "You will not harm him!" Pearl declared leveling her spear. "Relax. He is just here because of Spinel's mayhem." Garnet said calmly. "He can fix the land too." They look at her. "Are you sure? He's looks a little like that bike bounty hunter from dc comics. Lobo, was his name." Amethyst said morphing into a spitting image of Lobo but not getting the voice right. Rolling his eyes Zane used magic to look like Lobo and said in a perfect imitation of Lobo's voice, "If you're going to copy the Main Man you need to get his voice right you Bastich." Ameththyst was not offended as she morphed back to normal. "See. He got it perfect." Zane chuckled and dispelled the magic he used.

"what caused the rubber hose cartoon fan to try and kill the planet?" Zane asked as they put their weapons away. Spinel explained how Pink Diamond had been given a playmate before she was given her first colony, Earth, and at one point she had left Spinel said playmate in a garden alone for six thousand years. Zane's response shocked all but Garnet, he hugged Spinel. "You suffered because of a foolish but noble gem's rash choice."

"what?" Spinel slipped out of the hug confused. "I almost killed a planet and you hug me!" Zane looked at her understanding what she felt. "You were grief stricken and lashed out. I have been there and the aftermath of the choices I made are still around to remind me. Here my card." Zane hands her a business card. "'Dr. Zane Laskaris, Monk of Wrath and Grief, I will listen to your traumas with an open mind' What are your rates?" Spinel asked. "We will figure that out when you feel ready for my services." Zane said as a short green gem with triangle shaped hair anime style shades and a green peridot on her forehead was frozen with fear.

"Please don't strike us down, sir!" She said quaking. "Isn't he human?" Greg Universe, Steven's human father, said from the front seat of the van. His question was valid because most of the Gems had no idea why Peridot was freaking out. "You Clods! HE is the member of a clan of beings that look human but were powerful enough to fight Gem Homeworld's armies over some trinket Pink Diamond found before she faked her shattering! They appeared in the hundreds on the Gem Homeworld and poofed gems left and right! I was studying the weird trinket when they stormed in the lab, took the thing and escaped without a trace!" Peridot stated franticly.

"I believe that happened a few hundred years ago. My Brothers and Sisters were able to retrieve a jar of ale that was over 30,000 years old that day. It's so strong it's not safe to drink. I have the feeling that I know who made. He's known for his parties his wines, and the madness he can cause on a whim." Zane said thinking of how drunk Mr. D's 'special' wine could make a god. "That was wine? Pink Diamond just found it on one of the planets Yellow diamond controlled and grabbed it because it was a colorful jar." Pearl said shocked.

"By the way, we are human, just different from most humans you Gems encounter. Now to fix this place." Zane summoned Bonded Blossom and revealed one of its transformations. Storm Rod, a long staff with vines adorned with cherry blossoms winding up it and capped with a flame like gem, cradled by red and blue feathers. "Blooming Salvation!" Zane roared as he slammed the staff into the ground and a tree of green energy grow around him. Glowing roots raced outward. All the pink poison started to turn a glowing green as the roots touched it.

At first the ground looked the same cracked and lifeless, but then slowly, but visibly, the roots closed the cracks like a surgeon closing a wound. Next the tree's petals scattered with the wind return life wherever they landed. As the tree faded a ghostly fox swept past everyone in the town healing them before fading too. "Hey, my arm is better." Greg said moving the arm the got splashed by the poison earlier.

"That was awesome!" Amethyst cheered. A blue skinned Gem with dark blue hair and wings of water, Lapis Lazuli, flew over. "Steven! Are you ok?" Lapis Lazuli asked landing, her wings returning to the gem on her back. "I'm fine. In fact, I feel fully energized." Steven said wondering how Zane did that. Zane on the other hand was out of energy. "Good for you guys. I'm too tried to travel anywhere, and I've got ten thousand people that need my help." Zane said as a Sakura tree chose that moment to grow right where he was standing.

"And there's the tree." Zane says dangling by his foot on a higher branch of the large tree that appeared and aged centuries in seconds. A Gem with periwinkle skin, rainbow dreadlock hair, wearing overalls chuckled in wonder and amusement. Her gem was bismuth, a hollow rainbow layered geode like gem in her chest. Bismuth crossed her arms as her broad shoulders shook with her chuckles. "Having a little trouble with your powers?" Bismuth asked. She guessed that Zane was about fifteen meters from the ground with the tree being about eighteen meters tall at its highest point.

"I've only used this on smaller scales. The skill heals the land and allies, leaving a Sakura tree somewhere near the caster. Would someone get me down please?" Zane yelled down. Spinal used her cartoony body to extend an arm, enlarging her hand, then lifted him out of the tree. When Zane was on the ground, he flopped into her still enlarged hand, unable to move.

"What did you mean before the tree took you?" Peridot asked looking at a reading of the energy from the attack he used. "You know the game Sword Art Online?" Zane said. "The Fulldive game some human made? Yeah, I read up on the tech and it's impressive for a human. It launched yesterday in Japan." Peridot said not looking up from the data readout. "For their own safety ten thousand players are unable to logout and deadlines prevented a fast way to get them out safely." Zane said as sleep threatened to take him.

To say they were shocked was an understatement. Lapis Lazuli, who was trapped in a mirror for years, was the most shaken. "how do you free them!" She demanded. "How else? Beat the game. That's how the Logout Lockdown protocol was programed. Like I said, I investigated the programing the human used to make Fulldive. 'If the players' wellbeing is threatened by logging out, the logout button will be disabled until such time it is safe to logout'. It's a shame that he didn't program a way to get around the protocol before launch." Peridot said already thinking of ways to solve the problem.

"I'm glad you want to help me" Zane says as sleep claims him. "That's just great! How can we contact the creator of SAO now?" Lapis Lazuli said worried. Zane's Gummiphone dropped out of his bag and Samuel's avatar appeared on screen. "I will assist you in that endeavor. I'm Samuel." Samuel said warmly. "The living AI that is rumored to have created by Zane! This is just the aid I need!" Peridot picks up the gummiphone and they begin to talk intense about this that went over the heads of everyone else.

A week later

Beach City

Crystal Gem Temple

Zane felt the sun rising as he woke up. That spell was so draining to use. The Legendary Pokemon of Life, Xerneas, was right about the risks that she told him after hearing about him was fashions a spell after her life-giving skill. Restoring a forest after a wildfire, easy as breathing. Breathing life into land after it's sucked dry, a little harder by nothing a nap won't fix. The problem was the bio-poison, Zane had to use a lot more energy to convert it into something helpful instead of harmful. Beach City's soil because very fertile for years to come.

Zane sat up and saw Spinel peeking her head in the room. "You're awake! You had us worried when you didn't wake up for week. Apparently, that's not normal for humans." She rambles as her body caught up with her head. "Oh right! Breakfast!" She snaps her fingers and dashes away. Zane smiled to himself, he was vaguely aware of what was said around him as he slept. It was mostly Lapis Lazuli talking about how frustrating the SAO problem was for her.

"Here you go! Egg and Bacon with a glass of orange juice." Spinel said, setting a tray of food on his lap. Zane tries the eggs and smirked. "Did someone try to prank me with a reaper pepper?" Zane asked. Spinel was confused. She scratched her head in thought. "Amethyst added this red wrinkly fruit to the eggs saying it would add spice." She commented. Gem didn't need to eat or drink to survive. Their bodies were just energy shaped to let them interact with each other. If their gem, their true body, was fine they could make another 'body'.

The Carolina Reaper Pepper is one of the hottest peppers on most of the earths I've visited. Some worlds don't have them, and others have peppers that blow it out of the water with the heat levels." Zane explained as he ate the extremely spicy food. Spinel wasn't sure what he meant. "How does 'spiciness' work?" She asked sitting on the nearby chair. "A lot of organic beings have things called 'taste buds' that tell them about what flavors are present in the thing it touches. Spice is one of them. If something is too spicy, the tongue will send burning signals to the brain and it will feel like it's on fire."

"Humans are weird." Spinel mused. "It's like some Gems that soak in volcanoes to prove how tough they are. Pink Diamond always worried about them." Spinel mood dipped a little at that name. "What's the rings and stuff you're wearing?" Spinel changed the subject. The big ring is my wedding band. The gems on it are the non-living type gems, the kind you Gems will to make stuff with. The bangle is a tool to summon Bomb, a living fire creature. The 'gold' ring with the vines is proof that Titania, the Fae Queen, favors me. And the ring with a red carbuncle is another summon item." Zane said.

"What kind of summon? Is it like Lion?" Spinel asked, thinking of the magical lion that was kept as a pet. "Wait until you everyone is there to see her." Zane set the tray aside and got out of bed. "Where is my clothes? And who changed me?" Zane asked, he was wearing mushroom pjs. "Some mushroom creatures did it. Your clothes are in the closet hanging." Spinel said. Using a little magic, Zane changed into his normal clothes in a flash. The pjs were neatly folded to be washed.

Moments later

Zane walked into the main room of the temple. "Your surprise spice was wonderful. He had the kind of heat I love." Zane said smirking at Amethyst's expression. "Dude! What is your tongue made of? That should have made you drink gallons to fire the burn!" She said shocked and annoyed her prank failed. "Seriously? A hot pepper prank on someone that just recovered." Pearl said shocked. "It's fine. Next time use a Death Pepper, they pack more heat and have a pleasant texture to them when grilled." Zane said.

Pearl looked ready to have a meltdown. "Death Peppers are much worse! The creatures that eat them regularly only eat a few because of sheer heat levels those human sized fruits have!" Garnet's eyes widened behind her glasses. "You have someone to show us." She stated. Zane's ring glows and a deep red three tail fox like cat creature with a gem on her forehead appeared from it. "This is Ruby Carbuncle." Zane said catching the summon and petting her. "She is a summon. Say hello please." Ruby Carbuncle barked a greeting then went back to relaxing in his arms. "She's not much of a talker and acts a lot like a cat. Found her ring last year and she has been pampered since then."

"So, is she a pet?" Amethyst asked. "She can buff allies with protection spells, so she's not a pet, but a helpful friend." Zane said and got a nod from the summon. "I'm surprised you don't use the Infinity Stone you have. All the power at your fingertips, but that's why you don't use them much." Garnet said understanding his reasons.

"The Infinity Stones! That explains the traces of radiation I picked up on him! Along the other energies on him, he's the weirdest human I have ever met." Peridot said setting a stack of papers for Zane to look at. "Because of how good the programing is there is no way to get them out any faster without more problems." She started to rattle off various pages, paragraphs, and lines that outlined the things she wasn't saying.

"After five days of non-stop work, I got an idea. If we can't get them out without beating the game, then let's help them beat it faster!" Peridot said as Zane speed read all the stack. "That could work but only NPCs, Non-Player Characters, are able to aid the players in a meaningful way with the current version of the game and we don't have time to program enough NPCs and quests to bring up the average player level high enough." Zane commented then stopped as an idea hit him.

"You can enter the game as an NPC. The Cardinal system is made to incorporate new quests on the fly." Peridot voiced the idea Zane just got. "I've already contacted the overworked creator and explained it yesterday. One moment." She runs out of the rum and returns, pushing a supercomputer made of mismatched parts and crystals, held together with rope, electrical tape and other things. It was on wheels, but she had a hard time moving it without Zane's help.

"Thanks." She says then starts it up and connects a video call with Akihiko Kayaba. He had a sharp looking face and slightly pale skin with metallic colored eyes and short hair that looked almost gray, likely from stress. "It's good to finally see you face to face, Zane." Akihiko Kayaba said hopeful yet tiredly. "How are things going with SAO?" Zane asked. Kayaba sighed, not a good sign. "The first floor hasn't been beaten yet, but they aren't panicking too badly after they were told they were trapped because of a viral attack. On the other hand, we have stopped the virus and detained Sugou Nobuyuki, the mastermind behind the virus. He's a petty man who hated that I was better than him."

Zane rolled his eyes at this. "That's good. According to the notes here, the virus left an unpleasant trap behind. A program to steal players' digitized minds." Zane says flipping through the notes he made as he read the stack of papers. "The endgame defragging program will fix that issue after the last floor is beat." Kayaba nodded at his statement. "It's not going to be easy, given the changes the Cardinal System made after the Beta testing ended." He smiled, amused, adding, "We might have made the AIs too good at their jobs."

"Think of it this way, after the castle gets destroyed and made anew, it will be even better than the last, and without the need to speed run it to free people." Zane said good natured. Kayaba laughed. "I go by the name 'Heathcliff' in the game. See you on the digital side." Kayaba said ending the call. Peridot typed away as lines of code flashed across the screen.

Five minutes later

The screen showed a floating castle made of a hundred floors, topped with a ruby palace, in a vast blue cloudy sky. "That looks cool if not for the fact they're trapped." Amethyst comments. "Be careful Zane." Spinel said worried for her, dare she say it, new friend. Data wrapped around him as he shifted to Daemon (Cloaked mode). "It will take more than anything it can throw at me to trap me there." Zane reassures her and entering the monitor as it ripples. "That is so weird to see" Peridot says as the monitor returns to a normal non-rippling screen.

Meanwhile

The digital castle Aincrad

First Floor

Tolbana

Players with seated in an open amphitheater like the Greeks had in the real world. Diavel, a player with blue hair and wearing plate armor, was trying to get a person who was blaming the Beta testers for them being trapped here. "Why would they trap themselves in here with us?" He said trying to make the orange cactus haired player see the nonsense he was spouting by Kibaou was to stubborn to see it.

"Because they didn't think things through. They show hand over their gear to people that care about clearing the game." A tall back man with a goatee snorted. "They didn't do it. The virus was from a rival of Kayaba, as the news revealed yesterday. Beside the free guides that we all got were written by the Beta testers to aid everyone." Agil said ripping the power-hungry fool's lies like it was paper. Kibaou looked ready to attack Agil but the sound of robes brushing loose stones made everyone turn.

Standing at the top of the stairs was a hooded monk in red, carrying a glowing lantern and a rather long walking stick, wrapping in bandages. The monk's voice was raspy from what sounded like years of disuse. "Are you adventurers who seek to freedom?" The monk asked. All the players got an update to their quest log A Thousand Step. "Yes, we plan to clear all the floors and leave these lands." Diavel said to the monk. A dry wheezing chuckle was heard making the cringe. "Sir, have this." A cloaked female player says using a healing crystal on the monk. "Thank you for your generosity, young lady. I will return the favor when I can." The monks voice was clearer but still sounded ancient.

"Oh, caged birds, listen well to my words. I can add you reach your freedom sooner. But it will require more than blades and strength. Find that which you need and find me near the Chamber of Resurrection. Only then will you start to understand how to fight for your freedom." The monk intoned turning to leave.

Kibaou tried to attack the monk with his sword but the bandaged stick slammed into his gut throwing him at the feet of Diavel in a blinding fast attack. His health wasn't lower because it was a safe zone, but it hurt a lot. "Your greed and pride blind you, foolish child. May you grow up some more before freedom is in your grasp." The monk said with unseen eyes that chilled Kibaou to the marrow. The monk left them with questions unanswered.

"The guidebooks say nothing about him." Diavel says reading the new quest. 'Find the answer to the monk's riddle (first part of a branching questline).' Was what it said along with the dialogue they heard. "I have no idea who or what that NPC is, but his level is a skull, as in 'so much higher than ours, he'd destroy us with ease' level." Agil said. The cloaked female's quest log had something different. 'selfless kindness COMPLETE, reward: ?, seek the Monk after the first floor is cleared.' was what she had under the first quest, also completed, of that questline.

A few days later

Aincrad Floor one

Town of Beginning

The monk was listening to each of the players' answers to his open-ended riddle for the past few days. It depended on the person's views, some said skill, others teamwork. Argo the Rat, a player Information broker was eavesdropping on him as the last of the ten thousand players came to give their answers, Argo's answer had been 'the right intel'. Heathcliff, who looked like Kayaba's 'perfect body' (Like a heroic knight in red armor), was approaching him with a bow. "Oh, wise elder, I have thought hard on your riddle and found my answer to be 'resolve'." He said formally.

The monk looked at him and said in a wise tone, "You have chosen to be the wall that weathers the storm for those behind you? Very well, Give this to the owner of The Star Forge Smithy on the hill just outside of Urbus on the second floor." Heathcliff's quest log was updated, and a sealed scroll was added his inventory. He bowed again and left. The monk waited a little bit longer as girl with chestnut colored hair in white armor and a rapier at her hip.

Before she could say anything, the monk stopped her. "You already gave your answer, young lady. You were the first to offer aid to me without any prompting. Your answer is 'selfless kindness' and as a reward I will teach you a skill that will aid you on that path. Divine Touch, a skill that makes any food you make have a healing factor based on how well it's made. It has its limits, but that's how things are." The monk said as Asuna, her player name and real-life name, was unsure of how to take it. "You have questions." The Monk stated.

"How do I get the most out of this skill?" She asked a little unsure. "Master cooking and seek the pages of the hidden cookbooks. There is ten of them and some require exotic ingredients only the greatest's hunters can find and take down. There is a budding beast tamer who will be a great ally down the road for this quest." The monk said walking away without another word. Argo strolled up to Asuna saying, "For 500 Cor (game currency) I can give you the name of all the beast tamers." Asuna pays the broker and got one name, of all the players only one pursued the beast taming skill.

"I need to find Silica and get to know her." Asuna said thanking the broker as she departed for the next floor. There was something odd about the monk NPC, he felt too alive. She would find the truth as she worked on her quest path Piercing Shadows. Argo left the area with her goal set.

Elsewhere in the real world

A few weeks later

Gem Home world

Private meeting throne room

"This concluded session 15 with the Gem Group. Dr. Zane Laskaris signing out." Zane says as he ends the recording program. He was on a holographic monitor in the room where the four Diamonds, now three with Spinel being Steven's proxy, would normally meet. Starting from the smallest crystal cut throne, was Spinel, to her left was Yellow Diamond (a towering Gem with militant look and helmet like hair. Tends to not express her emotions), to the right was Blue Diamond (A Gem, about the same height as Yellow Diamond, with long straight hair and droopy eyes, wearing flowing clothes and a hooded cloak. she was very open with her emotions), and on the tallest throne above the rest was White Diamond (a Gem, a head taller than the other Diamond, with hair that looked like a white sunset, and a glamorous dress with trailing material from the arms of it. she had been very controlling after Pink Diamond left but was loosening up and being a better leader.).

"You are quite understanding of what you call 'our problems with loss' for a human. How are you even doing this and being in the game?" Yellow Diamond asked. "being data lets me copy my mind and have more than one of me running around the game and be here helping you four figuring out your problems. You have nothing on the mental mess one player called PoH is. That guy is the head of a murder guild and has psychopaths dancing to his tune with a few words." Zane said.

"And you just left him do that unopposed?" Blue Diamond asked revolted by that player's actions. "There is no permanent death and the only downside is an hour resurrection sickness on the slain player. Laughing Coffin has killed so much they're permanently marked as serial PKers. They have a role in the grand scheme to free everyone. They force players to get stronger to avoid getting PKed again." Zane said.

"And more high leveled players available mean that they clear it faster." Yellow Diamond muses. "A tactic like that is sound if a little risky for the morale of army. What is the latest floor have they cleared?" Zane brought up a map with the blue being the cleared and red being still locked. "24th floor yesterday. I know for a fact floor 25 will spike in difficulty, just like floor 50, 75, and 100 will." Zane said

"What's the final boss going to be?" White Diamond asked looking at the tip of the map. "It was going to be Kayaba sitting on the throne in the Ruby Palace, but it was changed by me to spice things up. It was after the Beta closed and Kayaba offered to let me change things before the launch of the full game. As for what to new boss is, spoilers." Zane says amused. "What fun changes can you tell us?" Spinel asked.

Zane brings up a window showing a beautiful forested hidden area with creatures that had a savage beauty to them. "This is one of the Lost Hunting Grounds I added to the game. You need a high tracking skill to find it and an even higher Master Hunter Skill to collect quality stuff from the beasts that live in the areas. It's an amazing reward for those that who take the time to train those and other skills." He looks at a message and grins. "They just learned of the wonderful traps that floor 25 has to offer.

Back in Aincrad

One year and two months later

First floor Hidden Dungeon

Laughing Coffin Guild Base

Under the Black Iron Palace, an in-game prison, was a dungeon with no enemies. PoH had been told to come here as quest in his Monk questline, where he was greeted by Death. He turned the crypt like dungeon into a base of operations for his murder guild. The charismatic sociopath was sitting on the GM consul disguised as stone sarcophagus, when Death appeared in the room. "You have unlocked the Unique skill Darkness Blade. How many players did you butcher to gain that?" The NPC's inhuman voice matched it appearance, a black winged, reaper with a skull helmet.

"You should know, I don't keep track of that number. It got too high to remember." PoH said calmly. Darkness Blade let him strike from shadows doing more damage than frontal attack. That was just the basics of it, and he loved it. "Why are you here Reaper?" PoH asked. "I am here to see if you remember the task you were give." The reaper asked. PoH recited the task word for word, "Hunt them until the fear of you spurs them to greater heights."

The Reaper nodded at this. "Good. You are doing a wonderful job. They cleared floor 73 because of your effective slaughtering." The reaper vanished with fading black feathers being the only sign he was there. PoH knew he was being used just as he used his 'guildmates'. He looked at the cleaver like knife with a fond smile. He got Mate Chopper from a quest boss. The GMs wanted him to spread fear to make them clear the game faster and he was enjoying this job. One of his spies, a female blonde-haired female player named Lux, entered. "Perfect timing. Are there any raids against us planned?" He asked smoothly.

Lux hated being forced to join this guild. They needed green curser players to get stuff from towns and spying. "No, they haven't figured out where the base is." She reported. "What are the guilds' plans for us then?" PoH asked. "If a member of Laughing Coffin is found then the Knights of the Blood Oath will use teleport crystals to send them to the Black Iron Palace." She said and turned to leave. "Wait. I have a job for you." PoH said with vile grin in Lux's opination.

"Go find the Black Swordsman and keep an eye on him. Report back if he displays a Unique Skill." PoH said and Lux rushed out with a shiver. Kirito the Black Swordsman was someone who interested him a lot. He heard from a little bird he had a blade forged from the player apprentice to Zane, the Master Blacksmith NPC at the Star Forge Smithy. Everyone knew about that Smithy and the owner's refusal to sell anything unless you have a note of recommendation.

Lisbeth, the female player's name, got lucky and got taken as an apprentice under Zane. She even got a Unique Skill Soul Smith making the items she forges be high end late game gear if you got good of enough stuff to make it. Everyone went to her after floor fifty spiked the difficulty even higher. He'd play his part and be the one to keep them moving upward even if it was only to escape death nipping at their heels laughing gleefully. On the wall was a banner with the Laughing Coffin symbol, a coffin with a laughing face and a bony arm reaching out.

A week later

Aincrad

Floor 22

Log House

PoH grinned as he approached the home that The Black Swordsman and his in-game 'wife' bought. He knocked and was greeted by a rapier by Asuna The Flash. "such hostility." He quips as lieutenant of the Knights of the Blood Oath glared at him. "Why are you here, Laughing Coffin?" She demanded as the black haired, black jacketed, dual wielding swordsman himself came into view with a dark-haired child in a white dress clutching his leg in fear.

"I came to congratulate Kirito on his victory against the Gleam Eyes boss of floor 74, but it seems that I'm scaring a child that I've never seen in the town of Beginning and I know all ten thousand players' faces vividly." He grins as the child flitches back. "You should be using your Unique Skill more often, Kirito of The Moonlit Black Cats." PoH used a crystal to teleport away.

They weren't sure what he meant but when they spotted the Monk from the beginning of the game, they know something was up.

An hour later

Inside the Log House

"You have questions." The monk said as sat at the table with Yui, the child, and Kirito. Asuna was making a stew. "Do you know what happen to Yui? I found her wandering the forest of this floor." Kirito asked. "She isn't human, but she is living." The monk said cryptically. "How can that make sense?" Asuna said plating dinner as the sunset happened outside. "Do you know the name Zane Laskaris?" The monk said.

"He's a programmer who proved it possible to make living AI from the ground up method." Kirito said then looked at Yui. "She's an AI?" The monk nodded. "She was created after the AI meant to monitor the health and safety of the players became more than just an 'dumb' AI." The Monk's words made Asuna hug Yui. "You must have been unable to do anything but to watch until you couldn't stand it anymore." Asuna said thinking of the things Yui must have been forced to watch.

"She left her station five days ago and was found by you two, the nicest couple in the game. She has a family in a way." The Monk said eating. "You are using the skill well, Master Chef Asuna." Asuna gained that title when she mastered all cooking related skills. "The Cardinal System. How do you know about it?" Kirito asked. "I am not a normal NPC. I and the other NPCs of the branching questline I start, were created from Zane Laskaris' mind, digitized and copied as a template." The Monk explained.

"That is insane. The Human mind isn't fully understood and digitizing and copying the mind can cause insanity in some cases. Those who tried to recreate Zane's achievements learned that the hard way." Kirito stated. "Zane's mind was already broken and reformed in the past. We are data copies of entities that lurked in his mind. What Yui witnessed pales in comparison to what lurks in his mind." The monk said solemnly.

"What do you plan to do with Yui?" Asuna asked worried. "Nothing, other than linking her to your Nervegear. She's adopted you two as her parents and Zane's all about protecting family. When the final boss is beat, the game with defrag itself and be incorporated into the other Fulldive game that is happening. It's called ALfheim Online and was launched five months ago. The new Aincrad will be similar but different in many ways. All ten thousand players will receive a free copy of the game and their SAO character data converted over to ALO. It's the least we can do." The monk's words calmed them.

"Why did SAO require us to agree to let data about our interactions in the game be used later?" Kirito asked as the Monk moved to get up. "To create the Ultimate AI, you need data from human interaction with different stimuli. To gather this data, Zane reached out to Kayaba to get the data from Fulldive players. The data is collected and stored elsewhere. The virus makes this more complicated and Zane was forced to step in to resolve the problem." The monk said wistfully.

"you make it sound like this 'Ultimate AI' is going to take years." Asuna said "Yui became the way she did in five years at most." The monk's voice hinted at a smile. "Samuel and the other AIs' growth was the result of accelerated years. Aura on the other hand will be in real time. She will grow up watching players play the World and long to join them one day. The game is barely two years into development and it's only barebones at this point. Good Luck." The monk said vanishing before their very eyes.

"I knew something was up with him." Argo the Rat said from where she had been hiding. She had seen PoH heading for them and warned them before hiding in the house. She had whiskers painted on her face and a pouch on her hip after she unlocked the unique skill Shurikenjutsu. "The more answers we get, stranger it gets." Asuna got a message from Heathcliff. "It's been confirmed. Floor 75's boss is the Skull Reaper. The scouting teams got trapped in an anti-crystal zone and were wiped out by the first strike, a sweeping scythe arm slash." Asuna said reading out loud. "Commander Heathcliff says clearers are taking a few weeks off to prepare for the raid on the boss." Kirito relaxes. "A few weeks to relax will be good." Argo grinned and as she left, she said, "I'll leave you love birds to get to know your new chick."

Later

One year and eleven months and 30 days since the launch of the game

Hidden Area on floor 90 Silent Grave

Kirito and Heathcliff had gathered allies in this place, that Silica, a young teenage girl with brown hair in two ponytails, had found, to plan how to tackle the final boss. Silica's tamed beast Pina, a feathered little dragon, was hissing and growing with blue feathers very ruffled as it peaked on her head. The reason for this was simple, PoH was sitting at the stone table with them.

"The King of Aincrad is challenging us to single combat. Who will we pick to take this challenge?" Asuna asked the gathered players. "You better not say yourself, Kiboau. We've got one shot at getting out of the game early." A red-haired, headband wearing male player with a scruffy chin, Klein, said before the power-hungry fool could say anything. Agil agreed with Klein. "We need someone that can survive for two minutes against a raid boss meant for five to ten people. I don't think we have many choices to work with." Agil's statement was right but they had until tomorrow to pick someone or the time limited quest would be closed to them.

"I'd say that only Heathcliff or Kirito are the only ones that stand even the slightest chance, being the two highest level players in all of Aincrad." PoH commented. "PoH is right. Kirito is level 138 and Heathcliff level 140." Argo the Rat said, hating to agree with the PKer. "They are also the only ones never to have died even once in the game. The problem is, do we choose a walking fortress of a tank or a fast player who can avoid taking damage?"

They looked that the creator of the game, hoping he had the answers. Heathcliff sighed. "I didn't program the final boss, Zane did. Just like the monk, Master Blacksmith Zane, Death the Reaper, Wrath the dragon, and all the other very life like NPCs of the that quest line. Knowing him, He made sure the final boss was a tank's worst nightmare." He paused then said, "If you remember the boss on floor 90, you should know about the phantom strike mechanic." They remembered it well. It let the boss bypass their armor and hit them for full damage. The only reason they beat the six-armed monster was because of PoH's backstab tactics.

"Kirito it is. Let's get out of this creepy graveyard before death himself shows up to reap us." Klein said. Death appeared behind him saying "You don't need me to reap you if aren't careful around PoH." Klein's reaction of fear was priceless. "Hello there, Silica, Wrath will miss your chats." Death fades away as everyone other than PoH's heartrates go back to normal.

"I can't stand when he does that." Heathcliff admitted. "Good luck Kirito. Everyone is rooting for you." Kirito just nodded as he mentally prepared himself.

The next day

Aincrad

Floor 100

The Ruby Palace

Kirito walked up to the throne in a wide circular room at least a dozen floors tall. Each floor and railed balconies with an army's worth of knights watching him from them. The throne was made from on giant chunk of ruby and carved to be as beautiful yet uncomfortable as possible. On the throne was an armored knight with a bird motif.

"Welcome challenger, to the Ruby Palace. Yes, the throne is extremely uncomfortable." The 'King' of Aincrad said. "You are Zane Laskaris, right?" Kirito asked. "you got it. The man behind the lockdown system idea. Here's the deal, you survive fighting me at 20% strength for two minutes and you clear this version of the game. When the next version of Aincrad is added to ALO then you can face me again, maybe at full strength and magic will be usable, but we'll worry about that another time." He stood up and pulled out the walking stick the Monk had, then he unwrapped it. In his hands was a bone white spear with the name Pure Nail.

"A weapon that bypasses armor?" Kirito asked. "In the game it does, perfect for the people that think they can outlast the final boss because they over spec in heath and defense. This is just one of the weapons I programed for the final boss to use. Oh, right need to broadcast this live to the world." Zane starts the live feed to the other players and the real world. "Your time starts now!" Kirito tried to block with his swords, but the force lifted him off his feet.

Kirito had no time to use a Sword Skill because he would be vulnerable for a few seconds after he uses one and with the striking Zane was displaying, it would be fatal for Kirito. As time ticked by Kirito wondered what kind of training Zane had to be this good. It was too smooth to be assisted by the system and Zane hadn't uses any sword skills. Kirito needed to get stronger and more skilled if he wanted to beat Zane at his best.

After what felt like an eternity, a chiming was heard as the system announced the game had been beaten after exactly two years. Kirito was in the red for his HP and his heart was beating way too fast. "Not bad kid. You're among the few that can duel wield long swords without looking like an untrained fool." Zane said with only a third of his health gone. "How long have you trained with weapons?" Kirito asked. "let's see, I was trained in dancing since I was six. I've had 6 years of formal training with weapons and hand to hand, and many years of real-life battlefield experience." Zane listed.

Kirito was floored. "You let me win." Zane laughed. "I gave you a handicap you needed to have a fighting chance. You might not have experience with the hell known as war, but you are the only player never to have died. Heathcliff cheated and made sure his heath never fell in the red via the system. Take pride in the skills and bonds that carried you here." Zane warped Asuna and Yui to the throne room. "You did it!" Asuna does a flying hug at Kirito.

"I left your number in her cell and vice versa." Zane says laughing at how much they blushed. "You remind me of how I met my wife and how long it took to propose to her." Kirito opened his inventory and saw the prize he got, Royal Knight of Aincrad coat of arms. "You are now a royal knight of Aincrad. Carry this honor with pride." Zane said as all the player were logged out. "Time to leave." Zane said returning to the real world.

Gem Earth

Beach City

Gem temple

Zane landed into a roll and dusted himself off. "I hope the constant use of healing magic doesn't affect the players' real bodies too much." Zane says. Peridot who was looking at some data read out had an answer to that question. "Their bodies will be closer to their in-game avatars were. For example, Kirito will have the strength and speed that let him survive your brutal attacks, to some degree. Tests will be required to have a clear answer." Zane could see the news now, 'SAO player trounces pro kendo champion'.

"That's what I get for keeping them healthy for two years with magic. They will be kept under observation for a month at least to make sure you are mentally sound." Zane sighed. "Give me an hour and I'll be ready to travel to japan." Peridot said saluting and leaving to pack the tech she'd need.

Three hours later

Gem Earth

Somewhere in Japan

Government run hospital

"Next is Kirigaya Kazuto and Yuuki Asuna." A doctor says as Zane and Peridot cross the hallway to the room in question. "Asuna was chatting with her boyfriend/in-game husband Kazuto aka Kirito. "Alright love birds, we need to test how your bodies are functioning now that you mind in back where it belongs." Zane said with a grin. "If they were Gems, they'd be like Garnet right now." Peridot joked as she hooked up wires to the two patients' bodies.

The wires lead to a device that was clearly alien. "You humans don't have the tech needed for these tests, so I got Gem Home World to send this over for me." Peridot explained as a holographic screen showed a lot of information in the Gem Language. "You CLOD! You overdid it and made them superhuman! Next time you decide to use magic to heal someone using FullDive, don't do it over the span of a year!" Peridot yelled berating Zane for his reckless actions. "You're lucky only a third of the players got that high a boost. What if one of the PKers got the full effect? We'd have a superhuman monster with a thing for killing!"

Her rant was interrupted by Kirito. "What do you mean by magic making us superhuman?" Peridot showed them a projection of his avatar and his real body side by side. "The FullDive was meant to make things as realistic as possible as you play games. This wouldn't be a problem if magic wasn't involved. As your mind perceived you getting stronger in-game, magic made it so with your real body. The Clearers' need to get stronger was higher than everyone else so, you get the picture." Peridot said kicking Zane in the knee.

"So magic is real?" Asuna asked. "You have living rocks called Gems, like me, and you don't think magic is real? You humans are be so blind. I bet you don't know about the Infinity Stones." Peridot said with a huff. "The Infinity Stones are six gems of infinity power. They are like the Gem race, being self-aware, but they are like gods to the Gem race and feel no need to make a false body to interact with the lower beings." Zane explained. "Five of them don't even try to show their self-awareness, letting anyone use them, often the user destroying themselves from overuse. The last one is rather picky with who gets it. You need to suffer a great lose to gain the right to get it."

"That sounds crazy but who knows what else is real?" Kirito said as Peridot removed the wires. "There are more things in space that can kill you than this planet has to offer. Mind your strength or you will be breaking a lot of stuff." She packs up the tech and says "Come up! We need to explain to the families why their kids are superhuman and how it's your fault this happened!" Zane rolled his eyes and followed her out.

Few weeks Later

Gem Earth

Japan

Yuuki Household

Zane was still doing house calls for the players that had families to inform them of the side effects. Asuna's father, Shouzou, a man in his late 50s with wrickles and brown hair, was happy that his daughter was safe and awake. Asuna's older brother, Kouichirou, was just as grateful but was on a business trip, so he was only there via a phone. It was the mother, Kyouko, a dark-haired beauty woman with a cold personality, that was not happy. "She won't marry anyone like this." She said uncaringly. "What kind of man wants a wife that can beat pros in combat."

"You haven't met my wife then. She's beaten me in combat more than once and we are happily married with two kids. And if you didn't notice, her boyfriend is strong than her." Zane pointed out. Kouichirou's expression didn't change. "Is he from a wealthy family? Is he skilled in something relevant to making a living?" Zane really hated this lady's attitude, arranged marriages never worked out without a spark. "The Player Kirito was the one to clear the game. He did kendo and intends to pick it up again along with testing games for profit. He knows coding and loves Asuna for who she is and not what wealth she's got." Zane said daring her to say something.

"Dear, let's give him a chance. I've seen for they interacted in the game. They love each other enough to watch each other's back in battle. They knew the other's next move without saying a word." Shouzou words seemed to make her think. "Fine. If she doesn't like him after marrying him, don't come crying to me." She said in a clipped voice. Zane bowed and left, grateful to get away from her.

A few days later

The Kirigaya household

"Magic made him superhuman? I'm billing you for anything he breaks because of this mess." Kirigaya Midori, Kirito's aunt who adopted him after his parents died, said with a light glare. She was a dark-haired woman in her later 30s. "I am also grateful for the length you went to keep him healthy for the past two years. Do you have kids?" She asked. "One adopted daughter and my first born almost four-year-old daughter. I know what you are going to say, and I know how much you must have worried for him." Zane said understanding her train of thought.

"He will be coming home in two weeks?" Kirigaya Suguha, Kirito's rather busty for a fifteen-year-old cousin, asked fiddling with her short black hair, worried. "Yes, the government need for them have a certain amount control of their new strengths, some more than others, before they free to go. Most of the players other than the clearers have returned home. Some players that weren't on the frontlines but had trained professions to a high level need to sort things out too." Zane said.

"Like you need to learn a new language to use magic in ALO." Suguha said. "Exactly Leafa Speedaholic of the Sylph race." Zane said and she blushed at the nickname she got for her obsession with the flying mechanic in ALO. "Do you have to call me that?" She asked embarrassed. Zane quirked an eyebrow. "As Titania's favored I find it amusing to poke fun at you guys as she does with mortals." Zane said with slight smile. "I have a question that has been bugging me since ALO was launched. Suguha told me that the fairy monarchs aren't anywhere in the game. The closest to them is you and the other favored ones. Why is that?" Midori asked.

"Because I'm not foolish enough to make an imitation of her after she told not to. Her husband is in there somewhere. He's the deer horned fae that flirts with females then gets chased away by dogs at random times and towns. She found it to be amusing for her husband's digital counterpart to get punished for his womanizing ways." Zane said. "What does she look like?" Suguha asked. "She has beauty beyond measure, but she is a Fae. We mortals are interesting 'toys' for them. Some Fae discard 'toys' that are no longer fun, but others keep an eye on past 'toys', in case they become fun again. Some Fae even find love and go to extreme measures to keep the subject of their love around longer." Zane said.

"I guess Shakespeare wasn't too far off." Midori mused. "What could you have been done to make you as trusted as her personal guard in her mind?" Zane shuddered. "Saved the fae race as whole from a very sick minded magus. His research was among the worst I've ever had the displeasure of reading. May he wish for death because Titania will never let death take him." Zane said coldly. "Of course, that was just one of the things that has invested her interest in me and my family.

"Are there other NPCs based on real beings?" Midori asked getting away from that dangerous subject. "yes, there is but I'll keep that information to myself. Hold on, I need to take this call." Zane answers takes the call and holds it away from himself as a scream dog howled from it. "Courage! I can't understand you when you jumble your words like that. Take a breath and explain the problem clearly." They watch as he listens to barks, howls, and whines on the phone and nods. "Is he's talking to a dog on the phone? That's weirder than magic being real." Suguha comments.

"All you have to do is say this to the birds and he will leave the house alone. Now listen clearly because if you say it wrong, it won't be pretty." Zane make a mesmerizingly beautiful bird call. "You got all that?" He pauses. "Good. I'll stay on the line." A few moments later. "It worked? Good. If you need any more help just ask." Zane hung up. "What's with the weird looks?" Zane asked.

"You talked to a dog on the phone and did some crazy bird call I have never heard. Could you please explain what's going on?" Suguha asked. "Long story short, Courage, a dog scared of a lot of things, lives with two elderly owners and is a magnet for weird stuff, like giant eagles roosting on the house punching holes in the roof. I've got some sway over avian kind, so Courage called me to help save his family. Does that cover everything?" Zane said like it was normal.

"What did you have him say?" Midori asked. "I said 'The Lord of the Skies requests you find a nicer place to roost', if he says it right, they won't be too offended and leave. Just another day in the chaos known as life." Zane said as Suguha remembered a quest in ALO. "The Sky Queen questline! That's what the call reminded me of. In that questline, started by helping a crow with a broken wing, you aid the Immortal Phoenix with various tasks. You get tasks via this fast-moving bird that drops a scroll and makes a call a little like that as it drops it. No one can catch more than a glimpse of the bird that is known as the Lord of the Skies." Suguha explained fired up. "There's a challenge to see who can catch the bird but even the fastest fliers have a hard time keeping up with it. What happens if you catch it?" Zane laughed. "If you can tag the Lord of the Skies with your hand, no weapons or magic will work on him, you gain a rare drop, but I won't spoil the surprise. Good luck young flier." Zane said as Suguha's desire to outfly that bird burned ever brighter.

Zane left them on a happy note. Spinel had an idea she wanted to try. Something that she planned after he explained what happened him in the past and why he understands her tragic past.

A day later

Gem Earth

Beach City

The Beach

"The key to fusion is having a strong bond with each other." Pearl said in her teaching tone. "It doesn't have to be romantic love or anything mushy like that." Amethyst butted in. "Would you please stop butting in when I explain this." Peal said annoyed. "Come on Pearl, you're too dry and wordy when you explain stuff. All need is the basics." Amethyst argued back.

Steven stepped in and explained better. "It can be the bonds of family, friendship, and some ways. Once you sync with the other being a gem can fuse forming a new being. I'm sure how this will work, but I've fused with other humans so it might work." Steven explained. Garnet peered into the future and smiled amused. "It will be interesting." She said mysteriously. "Just find your inner rhythm and make the connection reach the other." She advised.

Zane and Spinel did a little dance, Spinel had a jazzy type dance, while Zane had classic rock vibe to his dance. When they met in the middle, they glowed and fused into a new being. Standing there was a being wearing reddish armor consisting of six gantlets, a chain mail vest, a simple helmet with a moveable visor, plate legs, and metal boots. Under armor was living fire that shaped the body. The six arms were patting the body. "I don't see their gem." Pearl said as Garnet stood next to the flaming knight show was a little short than her (the knight stood tall enough that his eye level is at Garnet's nose). "One moment madams." The knight's voice sounded heroic and brave. He flipped his visor up to a heart shaped deep red stone with lighter red 'veins' on it. "I am Red Coral! And this my weapon!" He reaches into the 'face gem' and pulled out a red staff with an olive brown crystal serpent winding up it.

"What does that do? Does it strike with poison?" Amethyst asked as the visor dropped back into place. "Nay! This is like the Rod of Asclepius, a tool of healing." Red Coral said offended. He froze and looked towards Beach City. "There are beings in need of healing! Come forth Arete!" He bellowed and a Clydesdale made of fire thundered their way. Red Coral jumped on its back as it passed and rode off into town.

"Should we be worried or in awe with how cool that was?" Amethyst asked grinning. "We should be worried! He's running in town, on horse made of FIRE!" Pearl said panicking. "But the sand isn't glass." Steven pointed out at the untouched sand. "Oh. Maybe we don't need to worry, he's just run to someone in need of healing? If someone needs healing, then they are hurt." Pearl started to calm down but then panicked again.

In town

Arete stopped at the site of a car crash. Red Coral dismounted and asked the fire fighter on site what happened. "Oh, you're one of those Gems that help out around here. I'm new to this area." The fireman said. "The driver for some reason swerved and was launched off the road into the tree. The air bags deployed as they should, but the doors are jammed." Red Coral listened as he planned how to lift the tree covering the minivan without endangering the passengers. "The diver and three passengers are alive, but we need to work fast." Red Coral said.

"There's other people in there?" The firefighter asked, "We better work quickly." Red Coral used all six arms to lift the tree and break off the branches piercing the vehicle's roof. Inside of the minivan was a husband and wife with two girls in the back seat. The girls looked to be identical twins about 8 years old at most. Removing the branches let The Gem Fusion rip the roof of the car up like a can of sardines. "If you can cut the seat belts, I can get them out safely." Red Coral said as the firefighter handed him a cutting tool.

"The driver has a concussion and a broken arm. The adult female passenger seems to be fine but that might be internal injuries." Red Coral said as he carried each victim out of the car and setting them on the stretchers. "The twins are passed out and bruised but are healthy." Firefighters were dousing the minivan in case it combusted from a branch piercing the engine and fuel line. "Where is that ambulance? It should be here by now." One of the firefighters asked crossly. "It's on it way but won't be here for another ten minutes. They need to take a detour after the crash earlier today closed the main road." Another one said as the first responder medic was looking at the wife. "We've got floating ribs and internal bleeding!" The medic said calmly but urgently.

"I can provide aid, medic." Red Coral said brandishing his weapon. "Do you know that legend of Asclepius?" The Medic knew this. "The Greek god of healing and medicine who carried a staff with a living snake winding up it like yours. You got healing powers?" She figured. "Indeed. She is the most injured of the four so I will heal her first." Red Coral said as the crystal snake's eyes opened to show shiny stone eyes. It unwound itself and bite the victim, pumping energy into her body. The medic felt the bones move back in place and heal as the woman coughed as she jolted awaken. The snake returned to its spot, not even leaving a mark.

"The kid! Where are they?" She asked fanatical as the medic tried to stop her from moving. "Ma'am, you need to stay still. They are fine and this Gem is going to heal them." The woman looked at Red Coral as he started to work on her husband. "Why is the snake biting my husband? And why is he made of fire?" She asked confused. "His name is Red Coral, one of the Gems. Gems are weird biologically speaking so I'd say that's his 'normal'." The medic said. As Red Coral yelled "All injuries healed, and I removed a blood clot building near his heart."

The wife went into shock hearing this. "Is there anything you can tell us about what happened?" The medic asked. "We were traveling for the twins' treatment because the doctor noticed something off with their scans, said it might be brain cancer, but it was still treatable. We had to take detour because of main road was closed then. It happened so fast." She paused. "What happened?" The medic pressed. "A moose was in the middle the road, Frank swerved to avoid it, but he lost control. Then I don't remember anything." The woman said. "You hit a tree and it fell on the vehicle. Red Coral rode in on a flaming horse and got you out." The medic said as the woman passed out.

An hour later

Red Coral frowned as her healed the twins. The budding tumor need to go but the brain was tricky even with high level biokinesis. It was slow work, took an hour to heal both twins. By then the ambulance arrived and was ready to take them to get a once over.

"You did a good job with getting them out and healing them. I how you aren't offended that we need to be sure they stay healed." The medic said as the family is carried to the local hospital. "It is expected. I may be able to use biokinesis but I lack the papers. I will need to stop by to see if I can work on the terminal ward some time." Red Coral said understanding the protocol. "I'm sure they will be glad to have you cure the people staying for long term treatment. You cured brain cancer, or at least stopped it from getting worse. It's a good endorsement." The medic said impressed. "My name is lily. Nice to meet you."

"I am the healing knight Sir Red Coral, and this is my noble steed Arete." Red Coral says shaking the medics hand and stroking his horse mane. He took the time to make note of what Lily looked like. She had a strong grip and her hair was like spun gold with how bright it was. She looked to be taller than average. "You have interesting hair." Red Coral said. "I get that all the time. Everyone said I should work at the dock because my hair is so easily seen from afar, but I can't stand being on a boat at all. Even if it took me while to get used to the blood you see on the job, but I've been a medic for ten years. How old do you think I am?" Her question was odd. "in your late 20s." He answered. "Nope, I'm 37. Aging well runs in the family. My grandmother swears that there is the godly blood of Apollo running in our veins starting ten generations back but who knows." Lily said. "It was nice meeting you." She gets into her vehicle and drives away to file the report.

"We will meet again, Lily, descendent of Apollo." Red Coral said as he mounted Arete and rode back to the beach.

Back at the beach

"Is everything OK? What happened?" Pearl said jumping out of a trench she paced. "The civilians were saved and cured." Red Coral said then defused. Zane and Spinel fell to the ground in a pile as the horse had vanished when they unfused. "That was an experience." Zane said "I had the compulsion to help at all costs. Total Biokinesis, a cool steed, and the staff are nice, but the mental bit was not so nice." Zane had a headache but grinning proudly.

"I know what you mean. If we even do that again we need to get that compulsion under control, or we will poof ourselves from energy drain." Spinel said grinning as well. "You are coming with me." Pearl grabs them and drags them to the Gem Temple to lecture them about being reckless.

Three hours later

Gem Earth

Beach City

Gem Temple

"And that is why you need to practice your skills before using them in on the field." Peal lectured them, finally finishing. "I'm awake!" Spinel said jolting 'awake'. Pearl had bored her to death with the lecture, so she faked falling asleep. Pearl was annoyed and looked ready to start from the top when Zane and Spinel were saved by Peridot dropping by. "I have the answers you need!" she said excitedly. "Red Coral's odd biology is key to his abilities. His Total Biokineisis, Emotion Aura, and summing his steed uses the same energy that makes up his body, a weird not plasma that my spy drone had trouble reading." Peridot said rapidly. "What do you mean emotion aura?" Pearl asked confused. "The humans' brains were releasing less negative emotion chemicals and more positive chemicals when he was near them. It's like Blue Diamond's ability to project her feelings and make other Gems feel the same but not as powerful. The question is what is a near endless source of energy Red Coral draws from? And why did he feel need to rush to help?" Peridot said looking at Zane and Spinel.

"I think it might be from my desire to make up for the whole bio-poison plan I pulled." Spinel guessed "Zane said knights are honorable warriors, so they'd be compelled to make up for a mistake they made to reclaim their honor. Any Idea where the energy is coming from, Zane?" Zane tried to remember the feeling of the energy. "It reminded me of the living lava spirit of my home planet, currently an eternal burning rock with molten rock being the only liquid there." The Gems look at Zane shocked.

"That's horrible! What happened to it?" Pearl asked. "It's been like that for almost 30,000 years. It was the epicenter of a cosmic level explosion and was destroyed then reformed as it is now. Before you ask, I time traveled forward in time." Zane said. "UGH! I Hate dealing with that. It's so hard to figure out." Peridot groaned and grumbled. "Are you friends with this lava spirit?" Amethyst asked getting a wild idea. "I'm one of the few beings that can be on that planet without burning to death and are willing to even notice the spirit. It was so lonely when I first found the burning rock that was Earth Prime." Zane said remembering the mournful longing song the new spirit of the planet made.

"It sounded like a whale song but much greater and you could taste the emotions with your soul. The first 'word' it said was 'friend?'." Zane reminisced. "But it wasn't words really. More like a feeling conveyed by the soul, right?" Garnet asked. "Yes. It knew I was from Earth Prime before the blast and pleaded me to stay with it for a time." Zane laughed. "It was like a kicked puppy made of lava, waiting for its owner to return no matter how long it had to wait. I had no idea that I had found my home until years later."

"That's so moving!" Peridot said tearing up and compared it to the soaps she watched. "It explains why Red Coral is different from normal fusions. For one, Zane also has Daemon in his body, those having six arms to multitask with. Having the soul of a planet aiding them is a first but It seems to be the reason for the lack of a face and the weird biology. There hasn't been a Gem that has been on good enough terms with a planet like Zane is with Earth Prime." Peridot explained in simpler terms.

"Guys! Did you see the news! Some new Gem is in town." Bismuth said wanting to meet Red Coral. "Red Coral is not new in town, Bismuth. He's a fusion of Spinel and Zane." Lapis Lazuli said flying in on water wings. The blacksmith Gem let this soak in then shrugged. "Cool fusion. A little heavy on the knight in shining armor angle but still cool." She says patting Zane's back heartily. "Does he have any weapons other than the healing staff?" She asked. "Other than his fists? No. He's geared towards healing more than hurting." Zane stated then added "But if he can peel the roof open like it's tissue paper, he's got power in spades."

"I'm sure Red Coral is as wonderfully kind as you are, Father." Sakura says entering the Gem temple with Electra, Sunshine, and Aira in tow. "Papa!" Electra said running to Zane but tripped. Spinel caught her easily saying, "Easy there. The floor isn't too soft to fall on." Electra's eyes widened as she stared at the toon looking Gem. "Is she going to cry?" Spinel asked worried. "Can we be friends?" Electra asked cutely. Spinel's eyes began to fill with tears of happiness. "We can be Best Friends, if you want?" She asked. "What's a 'best Friend'?" Electra asked tilting her head. "A best friend is a friend is more trusted than a normal friend. Spinel here was made to be someone's best friend but that person wasn't nice back." Zane explained. Electra had a thinking look on her face then said in a voice that was trying to be no nonsense, but just sounded adorable. "if she doesn't steal my cookies, she can be my friend." The others were trying hard not to laugh as Spinel agreed to the terms.

"You're a little on the soft side to play rough, so what kind of games do you play?" Spinel asked. "Mama told me that I can't use magic around other people because they get blinded too easy." Electra said with a pout. "I'm a Gem so I can do things like this." Spinel created pink bubbles and juggled them with some crazy angles, only possible because of her stretchy body.

"How's that Electra?" Spinel said making the bubbles pop as speaks of pink light glinted. "Are you best friends with papa?" She asked, "He juggled like that with pretty fireballs when I feel sad." Spinel fakes shock. "You got me! He told me all about you and what you like. Did you see the knight on the news?" Electra's eyes sparked with glee "He's so pretty and nice." She said. Spinel stretched her neck to stage whisper in her ear. "He's your father and me fused together but keep it a secret or people with hound us and we won't have time to play."

Electra nodded so fast her hair flopped about. "Can you teach me to juggle? Papa cheats and makes them not fall. This is all I can do." Electra made white balls of magic and tried to juggle them but missed. Each ball fell and burst in a flash of light on impact. "That is bright." Spinel blinked rapidly. "You are good at magic for your age, 4 years old, right?" Electra pouted "5 years old. Mama trained me for a year now. That is was she's not busy with some world in danger or 'Keyblade Master Duties'." Zane flinched at this.

"I bet she loves you a lot. She isn't gone long, right?" Spinel asked. "No, but she and Papa are gone so often. Mama says Papa 'gets lost' a lot but always comes home with stories! Some of them are scary." She explained with a toothy grin. "He's shared them with me too. What's your favorite one?" Spinel asked. Electra wasted no time in saying, "The one where he meets the Tomb Raider and teamed up to take on the evil triangle gang!"

"I don't think I've heard that one yet. Do you think you can get him to tell us it?" Spinel suggested as the others got ready to hear the story. "Papa, please tell us the story." Electra plead. "It's late so let's set up your sleeping bag first."

Ten minutes later

Electra and Sakura were in sleeping bags with Sunshine being Electra's 'teddy bear'. "The tale happened three years ago. I had recently gotten back from the Kingdom of Icemark, a small kingdom of Norse people who banded together with their supernatural neighbors to beat an empire of science driven conquerors who wished to add more land under their control. I fought in that war some years ago, but that a tale for another time." Zane started. "Was looking forward to enjoying time with my adorable new baby girl, but then Hestia gave me a task."

"What was the task?" Spinel asked enjoying the set up. "To go get the 'Hand of the Rich One' from it's resting place before someone else finds it. The 'Hand of the Rich One' is a 'gift' given to a foolish greedy mortal by Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. As the Greek proverb says, 'There's no such thing as free lunch'." The Gems looked at him weirdly. "Yes, I know the translation makes it sound weird, but it means be wary of things given for 'free'. Snow White got a 'free' apple and it turned out to be poisoned." Zane explains.

Flashback

Three years ago

Croft Earth (World based on the tomb raider reboot trilogy)

Underwater hidden temple off the coast of Greece

Lara Croft went by many names, the Tomb Raider, Lady Croft, Ix Chel to name some. She was on the trail of an artifact that Trinity was interested in, that alone was reason enough to stop them and find it herself. After killing the agents with the map, she had found this temple to the Greek god Hades. The fact it was hidden in an underwater cave system was amazing. "Someone must have really wanted this place hidden." Her crisp British voice echoed in the dark place.

"Did you find what Trinity is after?" Jonah Maiava, a New Zealand born American on the surface in a boat, asked over the walkie talkie on her hip. "Not yet Jonah. There is a lot of bodies down here along with even more traps. Some of them have the crest of Trinity." She says into the Walkie Talkie. "How fresh are they?" Jonah asked. "Very old. At least 700 years old at the earliest." She said looking for anything they might be carrying.

She hit the jackpot when she found a bag of roman coins. "These must be from the early years of the Roman empire. He looks to be a thief hired to raid this place." She looks at spear trap holding the bones in place. "Someone paid a lot for him to come here." She commented looking at the large handful coins that would have made you quite rich in the gold age of the Roman Empire. She pressed on not noticing a figure following her in the shadows.

An hour later

She was stumped by a dead end. There was not a lock or visible mechanism to open the stone wall. It showed a figure in red making a doorway with a fiery red stuff. "Jonah, an idea what this means?" She asked. "No idea but I remember seeing the red figure in the Croft Manor. It was in a painting with one of the older members of the Croft family tree." Jonah said jogging a memory.

Memory

Croft Manor when Lara was a child.

"Who's this painting of?" Young Lara asked her father, who chuckled. "That is Griffin Croft meeting the Heath Leader of the Children of The Hearth." Her father, Richard Croft, said with longing. "I always wanted to meet them and explore the vast vault they must have." Young Lara looks at the 'Heath Leader' puzzled. "Why do you think they have a vault?" She asked looking at the painting intently. "It is said, Hestia charged them to guard many secrets. Many have tried find them, but they only appeared when they wanted to be found." Richard said. He made her focus on him. "No matter how much you want to hunt them down, please remember they are dangerous."

Memory end

"The Children of the Hearth. Jonah, I'm going to turn back, this is a dead end." Lara said into the Walkie Talkie, but Jonah's response set her on edge. "Lara, we've got a problem top side." She asked quickly but calmly "What kind of problem?" She drew two pistols heavily modified and turned to see a red cloaked figure walking into the torch light. "Your partner is being held at sword point by my brothers and sisters. His safety depends on your answer to my question. Why are you here, Croft?" The figure asked harshly. "Jonah, are you unharmed?" She asked. "For now, but I've got a dozen swords at my neck." Jonah said in a nervous tone. "I'm here to stop Trinity." The figure growled "Trinity! Those roman scumbags are always getting on our nerves with their schemes. Well, Croft, you got our attention." The Figure said. "Lara, I'm fine but they're gone like they were never here." Jonah said surprised.

"Move aside, we need to get on with the mission." The figure said walking up to the wall. He cut his hand with a knife and made an arc on the stone. The blood burned as a 'portal' appeared int the arc of blood. "are you coming?" The figure said walking through the portal.

Beyond the portal was a room with a star chart on the dome roof. The figure was taking his hood off and Lara froze. "Dr. Laskaris?" She asked because Zane had been the shrink her uncle, on her mother's side, had forced her to see, thinking she was crazy, after Yamatai. Zane had not been how she expected, and she got a clean bill of health in less than a year. "Can't say this is the best way to meet up again, Lady Croft, but duty come before pleasure. We need to find the 'Hand of the Rich One' quickly or the Greek proverb about gifts will prove how true it is." Zane said walking to the middle of the room where a set of wheels were stationed.

"You knew about trinity the whole time! That's why you kept asking those questions!" Lara demanded answers. "Of Couse I knew about Trinity, Queen Himiko's dark secret, and even about the key and silver box debacle that happened. After your uncle told me you came back from the Dragon's Triangle, I knew you had stepped into the moonlit side of the world. Whether or not you were ready for the wonders and horrors it hides, didn't matter anymore. You opened a door and I would never close again, just like with me years ago." Zane ranted as he turned the wheels, changing the star chart.

"I know that now and why you never told me this truth. I wasn't ready fully believe it until I saw it for myself. What matters right now is stopping Trinity. Where is the Hand?" Lara asked as Zane saved the puzzle. "I know where it is."

A few days later

Croft Earth

Greece, Mount Olympus

"How is there a temple under Mount Olympus?" Jonah asked as they picked their way along a corridor. "Magic. This place isn't under the mountain, but the entrance is. Created to hide the hand and it's power." Zane said as she disabled traps, they encountered. The puzzled had to be solved but there was an uneasy feeling of someone watching them. "What does that hand do?" Jonah asked as they paused. "You don't need to know." A voice said behind them as Trinity soldiers hold them at gun point. The commander stepped up to them smiling smugly. "I must thank you for opening the way to the hand for me. And you will continue to do so or be full of lead." His statement was enforced with the sound of guns cocking.

"Of course, it's right this way." Zane said coolly as his allies good at him betrayed.

Five minutes later

The Hand Chamber

Lara and Zane solved the puzzle and disable the traps, revealing a hand, made of Stygian Iron, a black metal that seems to suck in all light. "It's all yours, roman pig." Zane spat as the Trinity Commander strode up to the 'Hand of the Rich One'. Soon as he touched it, chaos erupted. Lara, Zane and Jonah attacked the soldiers dispatching them as bullets with fired everywhere in the chaos.

When the last solider was finished they looked to see what happened to the commander. "Where did he go and why are there a pile of gems by the Hand?" Lara asked confused. "That's what the 'Hand of the Rich One' does. Think Midas' golden touch but with gems." Zane explained dropping the Hand into a case made to contain its power safely. "So, the Commander turned into gems? How is that a gift?" Jonah asked. "The mortal king believed it was a gift from Hades because he had 'more wealth than the gods' but it was a curse to punish him for his hubris and greed. It didn't even take him an hour before falling to the same fate as this fool." Zane explained as he looted the bodies.

A few days later

Croft Manor

The Study

"It looks quite homey for a ritzy manor house." Zane said, seating in front of the heavy desk that Lara was sitting at. "Thank you for the compliment. You owe me answers." Lara stated. With a gleam in his eye, Zane asked "What's your question?" Lara smirked back "What do I need to know?" Zane chuckled. "Just like Griffon Croft, asking the right question." Zane smiled wistfully "To start, the gods and magic are real. So is the fact this isn't the only world out there, along with a lot of earths."

"I'm guessing time travel is involved if you are the Heath Leader in the painting." Lara took a stab in the dark. "Lady Hestia has odd ways of testing her followers, throwing them across time and space is just one of them. It's also how I ran Richard on his quest for Immortality before you were born. I warned him it was not worth it, but he refused to be swayed. I gave him a letter to read later. Did he ever read it?" Zane asked.

"No, but I did." She opens a drawer and takes out a letter yellowing with age. "You talk of how the years will weight on you as life marches on and to treasure mortality. And further on you talk of memories becoming painful if you cut all ties with people. How old are you?" Lara asked. 30,000 years is a long time, the next 10,000 will be even longer." Zane said sighing. "I'm not immortal but Death will be making use of my serves as long as they can. I'm one of their hired reapers."

"I hope you come by on a lighter note next time, Zane." Lara said.

End of Flashback

One hour later

Gem Earth

Beach City

Gem Temple

"That is a little bloody for a bedtime story." Pearl said as Zane's kids were fast asleep. "It's the abridged version because Electra is still too young to hear the whole story. Do you have any questions?" Zane asked. "What do you mean by being Death's hired reaper?" Peridot asked. "Death sends a golden contract will the terms of the job, I sign and become an avatar of death for the job. I get the job done and get a boon for my reward. There is story behind the job, if you want to hear it. I haven't told to many people yet." The Gem debated amongst themselves before waiting for him to tell it. "At some point after Earth Prime went Kaboom, on some other world, was a family. The father was a skilled hunter and was drafted to go to war. He turned home three year later to find his son ill and on death's door."

Zane paused. "What did he do? Go find a cure after a grand adventure?" Amethyst asked. Zane shook his head. "He asked the avatar of Death hanging over his son for a boon. Spare his son and he would hunt another to take his place." The Gem were shocked at this. "Death was interested in seeing how determined this human was. So, he said, 'kill five immortal beings who have evaded me and your wife, son and yourself, if you survive, will not die to sickness'. The hunter agreed and signed in blood on the dotted line."

"Did he do it?" Pearl asked. "The first was a necromancer, who's means of immortality was a skull his soul was bound to. The Hunter used the undead mage's spell of rot to destroy it with some trickery. The next was a swift horse running away from death's reach without rest. The hunter shot it in the side, ending it's run. The third was a man refusing to die without seeing someone again. It took a while to find the person but the man's waiting ended. The fourth was cursed warrior bound to guard a bridge until it no longer stood. So, the Hunter burned it along with the cursed warrior with flaming arrows." Zane took a drink of water.

"An the last one was the worst, wasn't it?" Bismuth asked. "Quite right. The last 'immortal' was only described as a swamp creature if the swamp was made of dark magics and putrid toxins. A being who never knew life therefore had no concept of death. Death watched as he struggled with beast. When the Hunter was on Death's door, he made an offer to Death. In return for a way to give the deathless 'death', he would be Death's bounty hunter until he died of old age." Spinel frowned at this. "Did death plan this to happen?"

"No but Death was more than happy to make the Hunter into an avatar of Death, the first living mortal Grim Reaper. With the power of death, the Hunter slain the beast by cutting the 'soul' from its body. Thus, Death found a way to deal with those that are troublesome for whatever reason. From then on Death hired mortals like me on case to case deals." Zane finished. "That was enlightening." Garnet said tactfully.

A week later

Gem Earth

Mount Everest

The summit

"I see why humans work so hard to scale this mountain. The view is amazing." Spinel said as she and Zane rested after a leisurely (for them) 24-hour climb. "Zane, why don't you make the perfect cure? You have the means to do it." Spinel's question got a laugh from Zane. "The last person to do that was punished yet rewarded. They created the panacea, it cured everything, even death. That was a big no-no and they were forbidden from using it on mortals ever again." Zane looked at the sea of stars above them as the sea of clouds closed in under them.

"Cancer is the body screwing up. The problem is, everyone is different in some way. All I can do is 'teach' the body to fix itself. I met this guy who dying and regenerating at the same time. I cured his cancer and he found out his healing factor was being lighted by the cancer, now he regenerates at a much faster rate and Wolverine is still angry that I made Deadpool even harder to kill. No good deed is unpunished, I guess." Zane said with a shrug. "His loss then because it feels so great to see their joy at being healed. We, as Red Coral, cured almost a quarter of the cancer cases in the world, even if it was very draining to do in five days straight. More people will get it, but we made an impact one person at a time." Spinel smiled leaning by the flag the put to mark them reaching the top.

"My father climbed this mountain once, it wasn't by choice, but he did it anyways." Zane said thinking back. "What happened?" Spinel asked. "He got kidnapped, again, and was force to go on a wild goose chase for the 'Rim of Heaven'. It's real but they were looking in the wrong part of mountain range. The kidnappers died of frostbite, leaving him stranded in the Himalayas. He somehow reached this spot and realized where he was. On the way down he met a yeti and got a clear picture of it. Funny thing is, he never showed it to anyone but his wife and his son. It's odd how you find things you aren't looking for much easier." Zane said taking out and passing a framed photo to Spinel.

"Tall, human like, shaggy white hair. That's Yeti alright. I think it might be related to the one we met on the way up." Spinel commented, passing it back. "Maybe, it's hard to tell from just a photo. Where do you want to go next?" Spinel pondered this question. "We traveled to the darkest depths of the ocean and had to flee from some super beast of a shark." She says. "It's called a megalodon. We're lucky the beast couldn't cross into the higher sea levels." Zane points out.

"I think I'd like to see-" She was cut off by a pair of rats appearing from behind a rock. "Geeze! If this wasn't important, I'd refused to get Zane." The larger rat said in perfect English. His complain relied in an annoyed female voice, "Jerome! Mr. Elives is depending on us." Jerome grumbled. "Roxanne, we are on the tallest mountain on this world! I'm freezing and I know you are too! Zane better be here because hate this place!" Jerome spotted Zane. "There you are! There's a magical artifact that is quite dangerous on loose! You need to come with us, your friend can come too."

"No time to explain, Spinel. Just take my hand and follow me." Zane said linking hands with her as the talking rats run off around a rock. Spinel gasped as they rounded the rock and entered a misty place that had mysterious vibe to it. There were streets like Wand, Broom, and other weird street names. Up ahead was a little shop with old fashioned letters on the window.

 **ELIVES' MAGIC SUPPLIES  
S. H. ELIVES, PROP.**

As the entered the shop, Spinel took in that wonder of the shop's interior. The place was packed full of everything magic, both stage and real. There was a wall of cages full of animals of all kinds. In the back of the room was an owl perched on an old-fashioned cash register. Just as she was trying to figure out if the owl was real, its head rotated to look right at her and hooted a low eerie hoot, soundlessly returning to its previous position. From the back of the shop, behind a beaded curtain, an old impatient voice said "Peace, Uwila. They arrived on schedule."

The old man will quite old and had more wrinkles than any elderly humans Spinel has seen so far. "Zane, I have a problem you might be able to solve." Mr. Elives said then looked at Spinel. "Interesting I haven't seen a Gem in a long time." Spinel blushed. "I like your owl." She said as Uwila subtly sat a little straighter. "And Uwila finds you to be friendly enough." Elives turns his attention back to Zane. "There was problematic artifact on loose. Luckily, I got it contained for you to deal with before you got here. It's through the back. Spinel You may look for your purchase while you wait." Elives says guiding Zane through the beaded curtain. Spinel smelled something burning from the backroom but the look Elives gave her made her not investigate.

"But I'd plan to buy anything?" Spinel asked confused. "Dear, no one comes to this shop for no reason. Be it to help Mr. Elives or as a customer. Everyone comes for a reason. Jerome, we are helping Spinel find her thing." Roxanne said hopping on to Spinel's shoulder. Jerome jumped on the her other one rolling his eyes. "Just look for something that catches your eye." Jerome said as Spinel looked in the display cases, selves and animal cages.

An hour later

"What's this?" Spinel asked looking at a carpet bag sitting in a dusty corner. "Not sure. That bag has been here long before we got hired." Jerome said sniffing the bag. "Smells like magic and there's no feeling of dread, so it might be safe." He says stumped. Spinel opened it up and found nothing inside, so she closed it. "Ah. I wondered when that would pick a new owner." Elives said as he came through the beaded curtain with Zane with oil stained hands and face. "That is a very particular carpet bag. Go ahead and think of something you need right now then look in the bag." Elives ordered.

Spinel looked at Zane and mused he needed a fresh cloth. She opened the bag and looked inside, there was a warm towel folded neatly in it. "It was empty a moment ago." Spinel said throwing Zane the towel. "That's the magic of it. A bag that sort of gives you what you need. It has a mind of its own at times but that what makes it an amusing bag to use." Elives said with one of his rare smiles. "After all, mystery is the spice of life."

"Next time you find magitech, make sure not to turn it on. I haven't seen many of those things, but it had a lot of fried circuits and a core on the verge of total melt down. Where did you find it anyways?" Zane asked as he cleaned off the oil and tossed the towel back into the carpet bag. The towel vanished as it fell in the bag. "I obtained it without permission from Area 51 on Gem Earth, as you call it, before the fools blew up the area with their tinkering. Let them hoard alien tech, it's the magical things I'm worried about." Elives grumbled.

"How much for this bag?" Spinel asked. "Zane's repair job will cover the cost. Take the side door it will get you home quicker. Or maybe not With Zane's luck it's hard to tell." Elives said pointing to a wooden door on the wall. "Laugh it up. My luck makes things more interesting." Zane said as he opens the door for Spinel and entered after she did.

Some other dimension

On board the Infinity Train

"Your luck is as bad as Murphy's Law." Spinel deadpans as she looks at the wasteland the giant train were on traversed. "At least we know where we are this time. This is the Infinity Train. People running from their problems are given the choice to get on the train and, if they do, are faced with cars that help them solve the problems. The passengers have a glowing number on their hand that shows how close they are to returning home." Zane explained.

"How do you know that?" Spinel asked. "You know how I became enlightened in the matters of Wrath and Grief? That made me a perfect being to hire for some of the harder cases. I think it was a few years ago that I got hired." Zane said turning the half circle handles, opening the human sized doors.

The Cat's Car

They stepped into large room with a nice armchair and shelves with trinkets on them. "Well, this is an unexpected visit." A beige house cat, wearing a blue vest and red tie, said from her spot on the armchair. "Hello Kate Mulgrowl. I still have the 'doughnut maker' you sold me." Zane said amused, referring to the metal pipe she conned him. "I hope it's working as advertised. And who is this interesting guest with you?" Spinel was looking at all the stuff in the car with interest, stretching her neck out to look at each one.

"That's Spinel, a living Gem like a cousin of the Crystal Car inhabitants." Zane said. "Interesting. Please don't touch those tapes. They are important to the passengers' progress." Kate said sharply. Spinel pulled her head back. "Sorry, your collection is very, what's the word I'm looking for?" Spinel asked. "I hope you are looking for the word is 'Eclectic'. It means from a lot of different sources." Kate said helpfully. "That's the perfect word to describe this place. How often do you see a slinky next to a bust of some dog wearing a crown?" Spinel said gesturing to one of the shelves.

"That is Atticus, king of Corginia. We don't see eye to eye because of my involvement with a misguided passenger's foolish plan. The 'true' conductor understands and has forgiven me, but the dog has not, he never really trusted me to begin with because I'm a cat." Kate said vaguely with an eye roll at the end. "You mean that person met wasn't the conductor?" Zane asked. "That's embarrassing for me. Is the 'fake' conductor ok?" Kate looked at Zane and found something interesting. "Even after she lied to you and willingly to make sure others didn't get to leave the train, you care about her health? The train picked the perfect shrink, even under someone else's control." Kate said amazed.

The room rumbled as it moved. "Looks like the conductor wants to meet you." Kate said as the rumbling stopped and the door on the other side of car opened. "Run along now." Kate said.

The Engine Car

Zane and Spinel stood in the engine car. It was rather empty with a super-computer taking up the wall space. A white ball, with a black stripe down the middle of it, rolled up to them. "Hello! Are you Zane?" A cheer voice came from the ball as two white dots on the black stripe 'looked' at them. "Of course, he is, Mother hired a human, not a cousin of the Crystal Car inhabitants." A cynical voice also came from the ball.

"Who are you?" Spinel asked. "I am Sad-One." The cynical voice said as the ball split into two dome robots with four short legs. "I am Glad-One!" The cheerful voice said from the other half. "So, your 'mother' is the Infinity Train and that makes you the true Conductor. Can I call you One-One?" Spinel figured out. "Sure! calls us that." One-One(G) said. "It's fine. Can I call Zane the 'second coming of the Doom Slayer'?" One-One(S) asked. "No, I was not as bad as the Doom Slayer in the Realm of Darkness. For one, they didn't seal me into a tomb because they feared me that much." Zane stated.

"You do live up to the title, the 'Mad Rocker' with how you caved heads in with your instrument in fits of rage." One-One (S) commented. "Is there anything I can help with?" Zane said, changing the subject. "Oh yes we do! We need fresh ideas for a new car. We were bouncing ideas when Mother reminded us your job is to help us. So, we grabbed you from that magic shop. Will you help?" One-One (G) said childishly. "ok, that doesn't sound too hard." Zane said as tons of large blue spheres with holographic labels rolled from a wall. "Pick the spheres you want and socket them to add elements to the new car. Hopefully you don't make hellscape." One-One (S) said.

"Moon gravity sounds fun." Zane says setting said sphere aside. As Zane picked several elements like, musical rocks, bouncy grass, and a giant rock face that talked, Spinel asked him a question. "What was your first reaper task?" Zane paused. "That was an interesting one. I was sent 20,000 years back in time to a world to where a woman with dying husband lived. My task was to offer a deal. I wasn't given any more information. The deal was simple. Don't pursue immortality or bringing back the dead and they enjoy 400 more years of marriage before I would be sent to reap them." Zane said.

"There has to be a catch to that." One-One (S) stated. "There was a catch. By not letting Ozma, the husband, die, Salem would not rebel against the brother gods of that world. She would not be curse with immortality, causing her to jump into a pool of liquid hate. In other words, I would be preventing the kingdoms of Remnant from being created as I knew them. I was changing the fate of a world all because I saved one life. Death was testing me to see if I was mentally strong enough for the job. I heal Ozma and the lived happily with many descendants. Kingdoms rose and fell. Fast forward to present day, the world turned out better, not a paradise, but not the half dead world it would have been." Zane said.

"So, the kingdoms still came to be, but were a little different? Did you make a meaningful impact on the world?" Spinel asked. "For one, there is only two kinds of immortals on that world instead of three. The gods and the incarnations of hatred for creation, the Grimm. There are no mortals cursed with immortality unlike the world I remembered seeing. That's a plus in Death's book." Zane said as the orbs he picked were taken to be socketed. "Now the trick to the door will be to play back the tune the rock face plays. No negative effect if they fail and no time limit." Zane told One-One who nodded and programed the car before it got sent, completed, to another part of the train.

"Cool car, can't way to check it out." A chrome person said. She had short hair and a piece of a red swiss army knife on her body. "The name's Gambit and you must be the shrink I heard about in my travels on the train." She said, "Hello Gambit, Miss Tulip said she misses you." One-One (G) said. "Zane, she is a fugitive from the Chrome Car. Miss Tulip aided her escape." One-One (S) said. "So, you were this Tulip's reflection. If you are here, then she is living without a reflection." Zane said.

"I bet she's confused for a vampire." Gambit said as they laugh at this. "I'm here to help with some accounting issues concerning you." Gambit pointed at Zane. "Apparently, I'm still learning the ins and outs of accounting, you are to be paid but you haven't been for the past two years. I hope you don't sue the train because it'd get you nowhere. So, what can I, Gambit accounting student, do to make sure things work out?"

"It's fine One-One can help you figure things out." Zane said as a door appeared. It opened to reveal Beach City. "This is our ride home and I've got daughters to get back to." Zane and Spinel enter the door and were returned to Gem Earth.

A few days later

Gem Earth

Syracuse, New York

"Hey kids! It's me, Spinel. Are you having a good time?" Spinel said to the kids at the picnic. Zane had been asked to come to a 'family picnic' because he was a shareholder in the compony hosting it. It was more like a 'bring your family to show how family friendly we are' event. The adults talked business while the kids are left to entertain themselves, that's where Spinel came in. The head of the event was a bald man with a thick mustache. "It wonderful for you to come on such short notice. You own a tenth of the company, yet you have made sure we are the leading glass bottle manufacturing source on the east coast." The CEO said with a toothy grin.

"I am glad to provide a cost effective and energy efficient way to make glass. you took a gamble a few weeks ago when I pitched the idea to you. You were doing pretty good before my ideas were implemented." Zane greeted underplaying his role in their success. "Zane, you gave us a way to cut down on waste products that we have been struggling to move past the planning stage. You even got some entertainment that the kids like." The CEO said then blinked as Spinel pulled a lion's upper body out of her bag, only to shove it back down when it roared angerly. "Are you sure she's only asking for 200 dollars a day?" The CEO asked. "She does need to eat, and travel is easier when you don't need sleep, she is a Gem." Zane commented.

"She is quite magical, and that bag seems to have impossible things in it. How did you get to be rubbing elbows with aliens?" The CEO handed Zane a folder a few heavily redacted pages of information. "You have the eyes of the world governments following you. On top of that, the little information I could find is classified to the Nth degree. Can you shed some light on this?" Zane sighed. The picnic was just a cover for the CEO to talk to Zane about this. "The cosmos is vast, and I've come to this planet because the SAO incident. I've been in contact with the man behind the game for years now and he needed help asap. The governments are just having a hissy fit because an unknown is bringing the survivability of the planet up and they have no way of controlling the changes as much as they want." Zane said with an annoyed scoff.

CEO's eyebrows drifted upward. "I can see that you have dealt with these problems before. I'm glad you are helping the world improve. Enjoy the picnic, Zane." The CEO said walking away to mingle. Zane thought back to the file he dug up on the CEO, ex-Black Ops intelligence division with a file cabinet full of redacted mission reports. After retiring at age 50, started a glass bottle manufacturing company. Zane shook his head, he needed to enjoy the peace, the BBQ ribs smelled like they were just about ready to serve.

A few weeks later

Gem Earth

Argus HQ

Zane was typing up an extremely complex code with Kayaba. "We're almost finished with the update for ALO. How have you been while I was elsewhere?" Zane said to Kayaba as nether were looking away from the intense coding work. "Not bad, mostly bug fixing the game and working on the Seed. I made the NPC you wanted to make sure PKers are on their toes. Who is Rory the Reaper based on?" Kayaba said in the zone. "A co-worker I know. She has a jurisdiction of a sector all to herself and no one else may work there. I met her at the 'Death's Meet and Greet Party' all entities that work with Death must go to whenever they say it's 'required'." Zane said. "And yes, she is a gothic loli with an oversized axe ready to dismember foes to death."

"You have very interesting co-workers." Kayaba said surprised but didn't really emote much. He frowned as some odd code appeared. "An empty NPC model of the Fairy Queen? I didn't program that, and it appeared out of nowhere. Any idea what's going on?" Kayaba asked as Zane rolled his office chair over to see the monitor for himself. "Everything is coded to an extreme degree save the personality and dialogue lines. Let's see if we can find where the code came from." Zane says typing away and froze. The logs indicated the source wasn't from a computer and it had appeared out of nowhere moments ago.

A text box appeared with Fae script. 'I never said I wouldn't put myself in the game, my favored one.' Was what it read. "Titania put a vessel into the game. Titania is in ALO for reasons only she knows." Zane said numbly. Kayaba chuckled. "She is only going to help make things interesting in the long run." Zane sighed and got back to the last patch of coding. "I hate when she pulls the rug out from under me like this and she knows it." Zane said annoyed.

"And the update is being added." Zane said hitting the enter key to run the program. "It's going to be a long seven hours before it's integrated into the game." Zane leaned back and ate a ration bar. "Still nasty tasting but much better than the ones the military have. How many hours until the ALO is back up?" Kayaba grimaced at the taste of the bar and washed it down with water before answering. "three days at most. Soon as the update is integrated, the system will do an in-depth scan for errors, glitches and bugs among other things, as you know. If something extends the time required, we'll just give the players something to thank them for their waiting."

Zane had a notebook open and wrote what went wrong with 'Ration Bar Formula #725'. "It would have taken much longer without the superb system we created together to catch errors before they are a problem." Zane said as a progress bar, filling at a snail's pace, dominated the computer screens.

A week later

In the Digital realm of ALO

Ancient Forest

Leafa, Suguha's gamer tag, crashed into one of the massive trees as at blasted bird hovered just out of reach. "I'll get you next time!" Leafa yelled with a clenched fist. Her avatar's long blonde hair, normally in a ponytail, was messy with twigs and leaves sticking out of it. "My dear, there isn't a next time." A voice like silk said as a regal fae with raven hair and a beautiful complex that made Leafa slightly envious. Her purple eyes had in inhuman gleam to them. With her was armored knight avatar Zane used in this game. "You are quite right, Lady Titania. She finally did it." Zane said amused.

"Did what?" Leafa asked confused. They pointed at the firebird she had been chasing. She looked then stares. The end of on of the long tail feathers was crumpled, like someone had grabbed it roughly. "I touched it! Wait did you say the name of the Fae Queen, who you said you wouldn't be adding to the game?" Titania smiled mysteriously and said "I added myself to this realm. As much as I enjoy his aid and antics, I don't trust him to make the avatar to my liking."

"I was in the dark as much as you were, just roll with it." Zane said. He called the 'uncatchable' bird down. "You've had a grand time being free but it's time for you to sleep." Zane said to the bird as it was consumed by flames, leaving behind a necklace with a tail feather charm on it. Zane stood Leafa up and up the necklace around her neck. In a flash of fire, her hair was fixed and her normally four green transparent wings were now two green feathered wings.

"You gave him a run for his money. He was one of my early AIs I created. A being who lived to fly and the moment he was caught he would 'die'. For years he's escaped everyone but with luck and skill you gave him rest. Wear this with pride. It's bound to you just so you know." Zane said. Leafa bowed in gratitude. "It was well worth the chase. What does this grant me?" Leafa asked. Titania had a mischievous smile as she walked up to leafa. "You get unique wings, can fly faster, and have the honor of being known as the one to unlock eternal flight for the nine factions." She looked at Zane meaningfully and he backed off to give them privacy. When Zane was out of the clearing, Titania whispered into Leafa's ear. "You will retrieve a package tomorrow. Open it and make sure you aren't wearing anything bulky when you put it on. This is an order from me." Titania's eyes informed Leafa of how serious the order was and how not doing it would be 'bad'.

"As you wish, Lady Titania." Leafa said with a shiver. "Good, enjoy your new wings." Titania serenely walks into the trees and vanished. "I trust you are going to do as she says." Zane says reentering the clearing. "To the letter." Leafa said still shivering. "Don't worry too much about it. She like you so it's not going to be too dangerous. She likes keeping the ones she likes alive for more amusement." Zane said as Leafa opened her menu to log out. "Can you come by to make sure it safe?" Leafa asked. "I'll stop by tomorrow." Zane reassured her as she logged out. Titania's voice drifted to his ears with an order for him "Do not arrive until her puts it on." Zane sighed "As you wish, Lady Titania." Poor girl got tangled with the Fae because of reasons only Titania truly knew.

A purple Haired female of the Imp Race came out of the undergrowth. Yuuki the Absolute Sword of the guild Sleeping Knights, had a terminal illness until a Gem healed her. Even though she and the other members of her guild were healed, their life expectancy was touch and go still. "Did I just see the Fae Queen?" Yuuki asked. "Yes, you did. I trust you won't tell anyone that is loose lipped. Lady Titania will reveal herself when she chooses. How is your body handling being 'cured'?" Zane said. "Physical therapy is annoying but I'm recovering. I had no idea some miracle would appear like it did. Are you going to tell me how you know that Gem?" She asked for third time this week. "Red Coral's connect to me is need to know and you aren't important enough." Zane said for the hundredth time.

"Can you tell me about the floating castle that looks like Aincrad?" Yuuki asked. "It's the same as SAO but harder than the one that was cleared. Be the one to beat a floor boss and your name will be engraved for eternity." Yuuki grinned "I have a new goal for the guild." Yuuki says then teleports to tell the other Sleeping Knights. She was upbeat despite the chance of her body giving out at any time.

The next day

Gem Earth

Japan

Kirigaya household

Zane was about to knock on the door when a scream tore through the air. "Time to see what fae trickery is at work." Zane said knocking. Asuna answered the door. She must be visiting Kirito. "Get in here." Asuna said dragging Zane in and slamming the door. Midori was talking through Suguha's bedroom door, worried. "Sweetie what's wrong?" Suguha yelled back "There's a spell on the ring, because I can't get it off!"

Kirito was in the dark. "What do mean by necklace? I'm still trying to remember what happened after I got mail." Zane sighed then made a loud bang. "Alright everyone. Calm down and I will try to piece together what happened. Kirito did you see the mail person?" Kirito thought hard. "I remember picking up a package addressed to Suguha and nothing. Next thing I know Suguha is taking it from me and slamming her bedroom door in my face. Ten minutes later she screamed, and you knocked." Zane nodded "Fae magic to ensure the package got to the right target. You'll be fine after a little rest."

"Why was there a package with fae magic sent here?" Asuna asked. "Lady Titania's whims are out of my control but she wants me to be here to smooth things over. Suguha, did you experience anything when you got the package?" Zane asked through the door. "I heard her words echoing in my head, so I heed the order. I put on the ring the and then it happened!"

"What happened?" Zane asked patiently. He could hear the embarrassment in her answer. "I made my figure better when was creating Leafa and now my real body matches Leafa's." She paused then added, "I think I've figure out how to hide the bird wings I got." Kirito was speechless for a few minutes before saying "I blame you, Zane, for coming to this planet and bring chaos with you." He goes to his room to talk to his AI daughter. Asuna sighed and said through the door. "Let at least me in. I have a skill to read the information on things, not as good as the merchant players but I can try." Asuna is let in the room.

Midori sighed "I knew something was going to happen to her one of these days. I've seen Fae before, no one believed me no matter what I said." Midori goes to get a box from deeper in the house. Inside it was simple trinkets. Each one had the aura of a fae magic. "You must have been well liked to get gifts likes these." Zane softly closed the box. "It runs in the family, doesn't it?" She nodded. "Some more than others. A few relatives got taken and replaced with a changeling resulting mixed blood starting ten generations ago." She laughed a little. "I think that's why Suguha has such a gifted figure. Can you describe Lady Titania?" She asked trying to remember something. As Zane described the Fae Queen's favored looks, Midori sighed. "I guess I did see her, only once. She came to tell the wind fae to do a task. She looked at be for the briefest of moments and I felt like a fly in a spider's web, with the spider debating what to do next. Then I was back home, not remembering how it happened."

"Where did you get this book?" Zane said as he pulled a hand bound leather book with no title to it. "It was given to me by a man in red after I got taken to the Fae realm. I don't remember his face, but he sang a song called Carrying You. The book is about a floating castle in the sky." Midori said reminiscing. "Laputa, the capital of a nation made of flying manmade islands. They had weapons and power but gave it up to live on the land below." Zane said looking at the familiar handwriting and drawings. "It been a long time since you and Kayaba stepped into that fairy ring." Zane looked at her remember her as a child. "Time is not normal for the fae, is it?" Midori asked, the same question she had asked the man in red as a child. "The far side of the world touches all ages past, present, and future." Zane answered.

"It was you after all. I wasn't sure, I mean I met my great grandmother when she was a child on that day!" Midori said with a smile. "And you were just one of mortals I was asked to remove by the Fae before you got stuck there for good. If I recall it was before I adopted Sakura but after I joined the ranks of my group. Time is hard to keep track of when you traverse it more than one way. Before you ask, no, Lady Titania has nothing to do with you getting lost or Kayaba getting the idea for SAO's setting from me. She just took advantage of it for her own plans." Zane said as they hear cursing from the bedroom.

"It was Puck that lured me into the fairy ring along with other children for a prank. The ring on the other hand, I know is Lady Titania's work. She has plans and we are in the thick of it." Zane stated wondering what other twists were coming. "I can't get a read on the ring. We need to show it to Agil." Asuna said as she left the bedroom. "Luckily she can hide the wings as 'tattoos' on her back. Do you recognize the ring?" Asuna shows him a photo of the ring. A gold band with blue fairy script on it and a deep blue crystal of high purity set with vines intertwining over it. "She had me craft a volucite crystal about that size years ago. Could this be the same one I mined and refined?" Zane said to himself. Midori said in surprise "You made the gem set in this ring?" Zane nodded to himself "Very likely. Volucite is hard to mine and a crystal of this purity is all but impossible to craft. It lacks the symbol of Laputa so it's not one of theirs."

A few hours later

Gem Earth

Japan

Dicey Café

"Well, I didn't expect to see you here so soon." Agil, aka Andrew Gilbert Mills, said as he cleaned a glass behind the bar. "We need your appraisal skills." Asuna stated as Suguha shuffled her feet. "Agil rolled up the sheezes of his shirt up as he set the glass and cloth down. "What kind of voodoo are tangled in now?" Agil asked. "I got this ring and it changed to fit perfectly but refuses to come off." Suguha said showing him her ring. "interesting lettering on it. Let's see if we can find out more." He taps the ring with a glowing finger, making a scroll appear. He opens it and then blinks surprised. "I can read this script at all." Agil says showing them the scroll.

"Wonderful more Fae script we can't read." Kirito says glaring at Zane. "Fae, you never said anything about one of the most dangerous supernatural beings being involved. I might not be a diehard believer of that stuff but after I was told magic was real, I am taking myths with a grin of salt." Agil said looking worried. "Relax Agil, you are fine." Zane says scanning the scroll. "a ring to awaken your heritage and as an aid in magic. Congratulations, Suguha you are half fae now." Zane said cheerfully. Suguha wailed in despair and mortifications at this news. She ran out the door with Asuna and Kirito giving chase.

"You need to work on how you tell people news like that. By the way, how are you going to pay for my services?" Agil said. Zane pulls out an axe that looked like the one Agil in SAO. "This and I'll install the wall mounted case for free." Agil scanned it and read the scroll. "You've got a deal. I was expecting money, but this is will look nice." Agil said.

The next morning

Gem Earth

Japan

Kirigaya household

"So, she hasn't left her room at all?" Zane asked. Midori sighed. "I think she cried herself asleep at some point because she felt silent around three in the morning." Suguha picked that moment to come out for food. She had tear streaked cheeks, red eyes and messy hair. Her green feathered wings were messy as they were half opened. "Zane, I…" She started but Zane held up a hand. "I could have said it better, but I forgot not everyone have the background my family does. Go get cleaned up and I'll show you how to care for your new wings." Zane said and she stumbled to the bathroom still getting used to the new center of balance.

Five minutes later

"And that is how to maintain feathered wings." Zane said to Suguha as he finished one of her wings, let her do the other one. "Careful!" He stopped her and corrected her. Midori had taken notes and Asuna was watching with interest. "I never knew wing maintenance was so tricky. Birds make it look so easy." Asuna said serving herself breakfast. "It is life or death for a bird. Why don't you give it a try?" Zane shifts to his fire bird form and perches on the back of the chair. "Like this?" Asuna says using the special brush to guide the feather back into place and remove anything caught in there. "Spot on." Zane said relaxing.

"Why has my emotions been so out of control?" Suguha asked, eating the same thing as Asuna but acting like its high-end gourmet food. "Your brain is adjusting to everything at that changed after you put on the ring, of course. The ring 'awakened the dormant Fae blood and reworked your body to reflect it. Give it a day or two and it will stabilize." Zane said in a relaxed voice. "I felt like I was on fire and in pain when I put on the ring. It still won't come off!" Suguha complained. "It's not coming off ever. It is bound to you and not even dying will remove it from your finger. Yes, the ring will be attached to your soul after death. Good news is that you get wondrous benefits from it, that I'm not allowed to tell you."

"By who's authority?" Kirito says as she gets to the tables. "Lady Titania wants her to learn Fae script, the information about the ring will be incentive to learn faster. She's only half Fae so she's got limited time compared to the Fae, who have eternity to learn things." Zane said admiring Asuna's skillful brushing. "Wonderfully done. If Have any questions now would be the time to ask." Kirito wasted no time. "Why are you regarded as the most dangerous being on the planet in the eyes of the world government? I did some digging and you have files in the most secretive governments that are known and most likely not known." Zane knew Yui aided Kirito in getting access to the info.

"I have secrets, power, objects, and connections that everyone is does not want to be used against them. Naturally I'm a universal threat and have the wonderful 'make him happy at all costs' Protocol as the best solution." Zane said annoyed. "on hand it makes things go smooth but on the other it's grating when they grovel at my feet, praying I don't smite them like a vengeful deity." Zane noted their looks. "Before I got as power as I am now, I got the moniker 'The Mad Rocker' after I got brutally smashed beings of darkness with a weaponized guitar repeatedly."

"Are you sane?" Kirito asked with an arched brow. "After the hellscape I survived, not in the slightest. My sanity was ground to dust and formed into something that resembles being sane but not really. Besides, sanity doesn't last long when you are going to live thousands of years." Zane says without a care. "How about you tell us about some of the places you've been?" Asuna suggested. "Well, one time I visited a world just into time to take part an 'extinction of the planet' level eruption." Zane noticed their shocked looks. "It was uninhabited and to unstable to have any life on it. Being drown in a sea lava was not my plan but it happened. In a n hour the world went kaboom, launching me to the neighboring planet. That's how I discovered the Planet of Dog Kingdom."

"I am so happy I don't have your luck." Kirito comments dryly. "Did they name the crater after you?" He added sarcastically. "Lake Zane, a great place to go for a swim and roll in the grass." Zane said getting a laugh from everyone but Kirito. "Elaborate on how that played out." Kirito challenged. Zane returned to human form and placed a memory crystal on the table. "This contains the memory of the event from all the witnesses." He actives the crystal.

Memory start

a year after the keyblade war ended

Zane was fighting to keep on the surface of the lava flow as the world quaked violently and frequently. "Lady Hestia better have a good reason for dropping me off here!" Hestia had returned Zane from the future in Camp Campbell and dropped him on a world that was destroying itself. Zane wasn't sure how long it had been swimming when the ground under him helved and exploded. Next thing he knew was he was on a meteor headed for a world that looked lush and green.

Dog Kingdom

Grass Sea Field

He and the house sized rock was headed for a grassy field. Zane didn't see any critters as he entered the atmosphere. He clawed his way to the back of the meteor and cast the strongest Wall spell he could to contain the impact blast to the field itself, then used protectja on himself as the meteorite stroke with a deafening boom. Zane blacked out as the sound of many paws came from west of the impact site.

Dogs of all kinds stared at the crater that was encrusted with crystals, some that jutted ten feet above the lip of the crater. "fetch the royal magus, now!" An armored germen shepherd ordered some dogs with simpler armor. This was Sir Reginald, the Commander of the Royal Guard of the Dog Kingdom. "Yes sir!" A greyhound guard said and dashed away. "Retrieve the human." Sir Reginald ordered as Zane turned into his firebird form to heal from the severe injuries he received.

"I've got this, Regi." A lumbering St Bernard named Paul, said as he started to pick his way around and over the sharp edges of the crystals with careful deliberate steps. "Damn it, Paul! You may be the former Commander, but you retired because you got too old and slow. Get back here and let someone smaller do it! And Don't call me Regi!" Sir Reginald barked angerly. Paul had guessed that the crater was 20 miles across and 6 miles down at center point, also the deepest part. The human/bird was close to the middle and judging by the pooling blood was heavily injured but healing at a fast rate.

"Let's get you out of here." Paul said getting Zane on to his back, not caring that his fur coat was getting bloody. "I may be old, but I know you cast that spell, otherwise the crater would have been much bigger and much shallower. Phil will be love to hear where you came from." Paul said not caring that water was gushing up and filling the crater. "Must have hit a vain of water underground. Smells like mineral water." Paul comments.

As Paul climbed over the lip of the crater, 'Regi' was looking quite cross. "It took you an hour to get the human and, in that time, I've had time to think of the punishment you will get for disobeying me. You will guard the human until he is not deemed a threat to the Dog Kingdom." Sir Reginald growled fur bristling. "I don't mind. Did you know he boxed in the impact with magic?" Paul commented as blood dripping was quite loud in the silence he caused.

"That is correct! The human's magical signature matches the one at the lip of the crater." A black furred Cairn Terrier barked as floating five fingered hands, carrying tools, scanned Zane. "Extraordinaire! Human with traces of other elements. I'm surprised he survived the impact after losing enough blood to kill an elephant from blood loss." The Royal Magus pawed away yipping "Come along Paul. King Philip XXV will want to meet the one who saved so many lives."

Sir Reginald looked ready to blow a gasket. That magic user was always lacking respect for everyone other than the royal family. Sir Reginald didn't care if he was other than the Kingdom or that he came from 'Earth Prime', wherever that was. He hated Terry with a passion. That Immortal magus was so annoying!

Few days later

Dog Kingdom

Royal Palace

Royal Magus Tower

Zane groaned "That was not a fun way to get off the doomed world." A chipper voice barked an answer. "I wouldn't recommend traveling by house in a tornado ether. I've never done it personally, but it doesn't sound safe." Zane turned his head to look at Terry and Paul. "Are your names Toto and Beethoven, by any chances?" Zane asked. Terry barked nostalgic laugh. "I played a dog by that name in a movie long ago, but my name is Terry. This big lug, who you coated with your blood, is Paul. Welcome, human, to the Dog Kingdom." Terry greeted.

"Wizard of Oz, released 1939. Directed by Victor Fleming and based on book published in the 1900s. That was like 30,000 years ago. I'm Zane Laskaris and it's great to meet someone else who lived on Earth Prime before it got destroyed." Zane said with tings of sorrow. "Another who survived the test of time. You aren't immortal like I am, got immortally in 1942 somehow and I haven't gotten any weaker over the years." Terry sniffed Zane. "Time travel and multiple means of enhancement. I'd say you've got thousands of years ahead of you, not sure how many."

"So, what were you doing riding a meteorite into our kingdom?" Paul asked calmly. "I was on the world not far from this one and it went full on dooms day and then I ended up here." Zane explained best he could. "Right on time. I knew that world was going to do that at some point. Planned on freezing the incoming chucks then setting them on the ground softly. Plan worked until that meteorite you rode on showed up. I may have lot of magic and experience using it, but I am limited with how many millions of speeding chucks I can target at once. You saved the Dog Kingdom from being blasted like the dinosaurs were." Terry rambled. As his floating hands used instruments to scan Zane.

A set of crystals had information loaded into it. "What's with the crystals?" Zane asked. "Glad someone is interested in them. Regi says that Memory Crystals are a pointless invention, but I know better. Using runes and the right cut of crystal, I can inscribe memories of events into it for future viewing. I can teach about runes if you want." Terry said. "I dabbled with runes, but I don't have enough reach yet to really pursue that branch of magic." Zane said. Terry looked hurt. "This will not do! I've got copies of some books that will be quite helpful with your endeavors."

A dog, that Zane later learned was Sir Walter, entered the tower room and stated, "Royal Magus, is the human awake yet?" Terry rolled his eyes and said, "Walter I have warned you about barging in without knocking. Remember that last time you did that? The roof was blown off completely." Terry said in a deadpan. Sir Walter wilted and he quickly said "Sorry, uncle. The King and Queen wish to talk to the human at the most convenient time." Sir Walter excused himself.

"That pup needs to mind the sign on the door. He's 70 years old and he still barges in like that. He may be the royal advise and brother of the king, but the sign is there for a reason!" Terry grumbled. "How is he 70 years old? As far as I know no dog breed lives over 30." Zane asked. "No idea how but at some point, all animals got a boost in intellect, lifespan, among other things. The current king, King Philip XXV is the first born of the litter, five minutes before Walter, so he was the heir to the throne." Terry explained.

"That great but why is the crater I landed in lined with crystals and filled with blood red water?" Zane asked gazing out the window of the tower. "you have great eyesight." Paul complimented. "Well, the water and crystals turned red yesterday and it seems to have a slow but noticeable healing effect when you that a soak in the lake." Terry explained. "Why are they red?" Zane asked again. "the world you came from had a core made of very volatile crystalizing energy. That meteorite just happened to have the core in the middle of it. Because of the magic used and heal factor infused blood use shed, the crater is now that lake." Terry explained simply as possible.

"Is there a time limit to the healing or is it going to be like that forever?" Zane asked interested. "The core of a world is powering the lake's healing effect, so it going to last a long time." Terry said like it was basic math. "Come on, can't keep King Philip XXV waiting."

Dog Kingdom

Royal Palace

Throne Room

Seated on royal looking dog beds was two corgis wearing crowns. King Philip XXV and his mate, Queen Heather waited as Zane explained everything that had happened three days ago. "You have done the Dog kingdom a great service." King Philip XXV said in warm commanding voice. "Ask for anything, within reason, and we will grant it." Zane wasn't sure want he wanted at that moment. Queen Heather noticed Zane's indecision. "You don't need to choose today. The boon has no time limit." Her voice had a rich British aristocratic lilt to it.

"How about we name the lake after him? The masses want to see him rewarded for saving them." Terry suggested. Paul nodded in agreement. King Philip XXV pander this before calling for Sir Walter. "Brother, go to the crafting guild and have a medal made for Zane." King Philip XXV ordered when Sir Walter got to the throne room. "We will have a ceremony the day after the medal is finished. Enjoy what our kingdom has to offer." King Philip XXV said with a dog version of a smile.

Memory End

Present day

Gem Earth

Japan

Kirigaya household

Zane put the memory crystal away and brought out a medal with the Dog Kingdom coat of arms on it and on the back was Zane's name and want he did to earn it. He all so placed a glass bottle full of glowing red crystal shards. "These were removed from my body by Terry. As you can see, they turned into the same crystal as the ones at the lake, but these are much more powerful because they were embedded in my body for hours" Zane stated. "Any questions?"

They were shocked, in awe, and a little green around the gills. "Why did you have to show what you look like after losing to a cheese grater?" Kirito asked, referring to the brief look of Zane before he turned into a bird to heal, in a condescending way. "I could have showed you what Mordor looked like after I slaughtered millions of Orcs to made sure the One Ring got dropped in the volcano. It makes that look like sunshine and rainbows." Zane shot back. Kirito ran holding his mouth looking quite ill. "I guess his imagination did it for me. Trust me, it was a long month for me. I tried to break the One Ring with my battle axe, but the damn thing had an enchantment on it that made a lava dip, where it was made, the only way to unmake it." Zane said shuddering at the bloody fields that came to mind, all because Death was angry over a little ring and Zane couldn't use the power of death because of red tape of the cosmic level.

"One of the wars you were a part of?" Asuna asked. "The orcs only had numbers on their side. I was one man with a handful of allies, destroying them with superior power and skill." Zane said. Suguha had starry eyes imagining something. "What's on your mind?" Zane asked. "Mom, can I get a dog?" She asked Midori. "I'll think about it." Midori said. Zane was deep in thought. "Paul has a friend with a great grandpup, who is a bundle of energy. Border Collies are herding dogs, but they can be taught the rules. Even before the animals got 'better', Border Collies are among the smarter breeds. I'll make a short trip to see if the pup wants to be your 'pet'." Zane says opening a portal that closed behind him.

"If the dog meets my standards, you can keep them." Midori sighed as her daughter clapped her hands in delight. Kirito came back looking better. "Where'd Zane go?" Kirito asked, "I need to get back researching that Greek essay I need to do for my history class. Who gives an essay like that on the first week of school?" Zane popped back in carrying a pure white Border Collie puppy. "This is Sam. He's pure white because he got the bright idea to barge into Terry's lab at a bad time. Nothing harmful happened to him, he just of his fur stuck like this forever." Zane said setting Sam down.

"HELLO!" Sam Barked happily in the universal tongue. "I'm Sam! So many new smells!" He started to ramble on about each smell as the humans talked about him. Sam was two years old and had a boosted life expectancy of at least hundred fifty years like all the border Collies after what the weird 'Animal boost' event. Sam understood the rules and was to 'bark like a dog' when he was near 'normal' people.

Kirito, after being licked a lot, grumbled about his essay. "I better finish that essay. It's not like anyone knows the complete history of Pankration today." Zane grinned and Kirito sighed. "You're Greek, right? Could you help me with the essay?" Kirito asked setting his pride aside to get a good grade. "I am a master in the art of Pankration and am more than willing to share the history of it with you. For a reasonable price of course." Zane said with a smile.

"What do you want?" Kirito said dreading already. "I need you to have a spar with someone interested in battling you." Zane said as a portal opened, letting Anubis into the room. "This is my trusted bodyguard, Anubis. He has kept an eye on my family for years and only had a few moments where they escaped him. None of them were his fault, my kids are just too good at sneaking away." Anubis removed his hood, displaying his grinning muzzle.

"So, you are the runt that survived Lord Zane's spar. I hope you are skilled enough to make me even try." Anubis' tone was condescending. "When and where the duel happening?" Kirito asked, upping the stakes. "In dojo, do you want to use wood swords or live swords (battle ready blades)? We'll hold it at noon." Zane asked. "Can you get me blades like I had in SAO?" Kirito asked, itching start. Right ahead of you, kid." Zane pulled out sheaved blades that looked like his. "They aren't 1:1 because of some materials in-game being made up but you won't notice a difference. I've got your rapier here too, Asuna." Zane says passing a sword bag to Asuna.

"Just warning you, Anubis has fought many strong beings and improved with each encounter." Zane said.

A few hours later

Zane stood between the two fighters as the referee of the match. "Do your best!" Asuna cheered from the sidelines with the other members of the family watching. "The rule of this match is first to disarm the other wins. No Sword Skills or Abilities, only pure swordplay, got it?" Zane asked and the fighters nodded. They bowed slightly then readied themselves for the signal to begin. "BEGIN!" Zane yelled, jumping back at sparks and the sound of clashing swords rung out.

"I can't keep up with this." Midori admitted as one of the two that had no idea who was winning, the other being Sam. "Kirito has a solid defense but he's not getting a lot of hits in. Anubis is at a level I've never seen, and he isn't going all out." Asuna said eyes darting. "This has to be a made to fail test. Why else would Zane pit someone so strong against him?" Suguha stated then yelped as swords embedded themselves into the ceiling up to the hilt.

"Not bad for a brisk warm up. I'd say you are among the few that can duel wield without looking like a fool. You lasted two minutes, a good first try." Anubis said sheathing the sword he was using. Kirito was gritting his teeth as his arms ached painfully. "That great, but this won't be the last time we fight." He vowed. "Good answer. Improve, ascend and never stagnate. That is what fighters need to do until they die. But at the same time, don't pick fights that you don't need to fight. It will get you an early grave." Anubis said as he pulled Kirito's swords free and returned them, handle first.

"My arms refuse to work at the moment." Kirito ground out. "I can heal you up in a jiffy." Zane says casting Cure. After Kirito sheaved his blades, Zane walked him away to teach him about Pankration.

A week later

Gem earth

Hidden base

Interrogation room

Zane was talking to someone he didn't think he'd meet in person. PoH of Laughing Coffin. "I understand that you were hired to 'break into my lab and steal any and all AI related tech', is that everything?" Zane said as PoH just sat there, uncaring, and testing the strength of the restricts. "That's the long and short of it. You captured all the mercenaries they sent, me included, and extracted all information you needed to know. The question is, what are looking for from me?" PoH said coldly.

"You were the only on that gave up peacefully. It's interesting that are so calm, knowing that the rest of the people sent are wishing they never took the job. You on the other hand was very interested when I entered this room. Why is that?" Zane questioned. PoH arched a brow and said "Wouldn't you want to meet the man who used you for two years? You're aren't what I expected." PoH paused for effect. "I am looking for a more permanent employment." Zane scanned his face and thought it over. "I have an opening that might interest you. You have shown you can make psychopaths and sociopaths into useful people." Zane said. "You want me to give 'lost causes' a chance at 'stable living'?" PoH asked very interested. "You can talk to them in a way that will help them find jobs. We both know that Laughing Coffin only stayed together because you were charismatic enough to stabilize the blood thirsty members so well. You will be provided with everything you need and for a generous paycheck each week." Zane says writing a check and sliding it over.

PoH looks at the check then looked at Zane. "Add a zero and it's a deal." He stated. Zane does so and releases the restraints. "You can start next week. You will receive details in five days." Zane says as the room because pitch black. When the light returned, PoH was gone. "That solves that issue." Zane sighs as a silver scroll drops before him. It was a 'message scroll' from Death. Unlike the gold 'mission scrolls', the silver ones were just important message from a death that ranged from a number of things. "It's from Teleute (Greek for Death. Name of the DC comics Death). She must have something interesting in mind." He scanned the scroll. "She's inviting my family to visit her multiverse. It would be nice to come by. I wonder if Scavenge is still skirting the line with his 'immortality'." Zane mused.

A few months later

DC Universe

Earth

Gotham City

Poison Ivy's greenhouse lair

Sakura feel out of the portal and land on soft vines, which wasted no time to bind her tightly. "An intruder? What do we have here, someone snooping where they don't belong?" A woman with red hair and greenish skin, wearing a dress of leaves, asked laying on a giant flower 'bed'. "I had no intention of intruding, miss. We were hit by turbulence as we were crossing dimensions and were blasted off course. I seem to be the only one to be spit out here." Sakura said cordially as giant hungry looking flytraps drooped acid. The woman did something, and the vine let Sakura go. Sakura landed on her feet and dusted herself off and caught her luggage as it was spat out of the same closing portal.

"You can call me Poison Ivy." Poison Ivy said as the Green (a living but not living force made up of all the plants on the Earth in the DC Universe) told her something. "The Parliament of Trees (The head beings of the Green) wants you unharmed, care to shed some light on why?" Sakura was forcibly seated on a flower 'bed' and she gave the broad strokes of why. "Your adoptive father is important and powerful, and the Green does want him as an enemy, does that sum it up?" Poison Ivy asked. "There are things I can't tell you, but you got the gist of it." Sakura said stroking the 'chin' of a fly trap making it 'purr'.

"You have an air about you that my babies enjoy." Poison Ivy said watching how the plants seems to act around Sakura. "I'm a Miko of Amaterasu, not by choice, she's a sun goddess." Sakura explained showing her kitsune form. The plants around her basked in the aura she gave off, like a nice sunny day. "Pamy! Can I crash at your place?" A loud female voice echoed in the greenhouse as a woman that looked like a red and black jester, with tears streaking down her face, came in without knocking.

"Mr J dumped me!" She continued as she grabbed Sakura and hugged her close. "Harley, I know you are feeling bad right now, but you are hugging my guest." Poison Ivy stated as Harley Quinn wiped away her tears at looked at Sakura. "She's so cute! She looks like a kitsune version of that wolf in that new Okami game that came out. She even has a floating burning mirror!" Harley Quinn squealed; her sadness forgotten for the moment. Sighing, Poison Ivy reintroduced herself. "My real name is Pamela Isley and this is Harley Quinn, as she prefers to be called. Harley, this is Sakura Laskaris, a human that was forced to be a Miko of the goddess the wolf in that game is based off." Harley let Sakura go and blinked, processing the info. "So, a goddess forced her to be a miko and gave her cool sun powers? That is so lucky!" Harley said, missing the point.

"It's not too bad a deal, the pros greatly outweigh the cons." Sakura said as she fixed her fur with practiced ease. "I hope everyone else got to safety as Mister Mxyzptlk promised." Sakura commented with some worry. "Who's that?" Harley asked. "A fifth dimensional imp who is one Father's friends. He warned us that the exit from the void would be chaotic but safer than not taking his help." Poison Ivy felt a shudder of Dread from the Green. "The Green fears him." Poison Ivy stated. "He is a Lord of Chaos after all." Sakura said calmly.

"That reminds me, Mr. Freeze is retiring from crime." Harley said out of nowhere. "He met someone name Aqua a few days ago and she helped him. He no longer has a reason for crime now." Sakura's mood brightened greatly. "Mother is safe! She arrived before I did but she's safe and sound!" Sakura's tails move in a very happy way. "Can I meet him?" She asked. "Sure! That popsicle would love to meet you." Harley said as Poison Ivy doubted that. "We need to go via the sewers because the Bat is going to be patrolling soon." Harley said pointing out the sunset outside.

An hour later

Gotham sewer system

Poison Ivy's walking planet 'carriage' used vines to move along the pipes. "I know it smells but it's a lot safer than aboveground." Harley said, her voice muffled by the gas mask she like the other two wore to block out the smell. "I'm not too sure about that. After all, this is Killer Croc's turf." A gravely voice echoed as a tall humanoid crocodile metahuman rose from the sewer water. "Hey there Croc. We're headed for Popsicles' place. Foxy here is Aqua's daughter." Harley says sticking her head out and dragging Sakura out too.

"She smells like a fox and something else." Killer Croc said tapping his chin in thought. "I remember now. You smell like that bug that wandering around the next junction. About two feet tall, has a white horned mask and a gray cloak covering a body as black as the void. It also brandished a fancy locking weapon at me. Looked like a pure white nail." Killer Croc described. "The Knight of Hallownest." Sakura said with wide eyes. "Posion Ivy, we need to find that bug. If I'm right, then the Knight could be provoked into slaughtering a lot of people." The three around her was shocked. "That thing looks like it just need a can of aerosol to kill it." Killer Croc pointed out.

The next thing Sakura said chilled them to the bone. "The Knight is also called the Shade Lord, a being of God and Void. He, I call him a he because it's easier that way, killed a god to such a degree that she is gone for good." Killer Croc was quick to offer aid in finding the 'bug'.

It didn't take long to the find the 'bug'. Sakura climbed out of the plant extended a hand to the Knight. "Hello Knight. What brings you to this realm?" The Knight's blank sockets peered at her as he tilted his head. 'VOID KIN?' it 'said' in way only she 'heard'. "Yes, I can use the powers of the Void too." She said as the Knight let her pick him up and returned to the plant. The Knight 'explained' it had collided with Sakura's family as they were crossing dimensions, and like them, was dropped into the DC multiverse.

An hour later

Mr. Freeze's lab

Sakura had thanked Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc for their help and waved as they returned to their homes. The Knight, in her arms, gestured to the door. "Right, I hope Mother is here still." She says more to herself. She knocked and the door wheel spun, swung open with a hiss. Standing there was Victor Fries, aka Doctor Freeze. He looked less 'human popsicle in a robot suit' and more like a bald human with slightly blue skin and wearing lab approved attire.

"What do you want?" He said with narrowed eyes hidden by his goggles. "I'm looking for Aqua Laskaris." He looked her up and down before saying. "It's best you come inside." She followed him. He led her to living area where his wife, Nora Fries, was making tea. She looked under the weather but recovering. She had fair blonde hair and kind of pale skin but a kind smile. "Honey who is this?" She asked, getting two more teacups ready.

"This Sakura, one of Aqua's daughters." Victor said. "Your mother used magic to heal my wife and myself to a degree that let us live normal lives. Then she left to find the rest of her family in quite a hurry. She only stayed to heal us and to make sure to leave this in case one of you found us." He hands a letter that was summed up to be Aqua reassuring any family member that she was alive and looking for them. Nora poured the tea and sat down. The Knight looked at the tea confused. "You drink it." Nora said. The Knight nodded then, somehow, sipped it, even if he didn't have a 'mouth' to drink or eat.

"I'm not going to ask how that is happening." Victor said, "This city of madness has things much stranger than a mouthless creature that can drink tea." The Knight nodded in contentment. Out of nowhere The Cape Crusader, the Bat, Batman himself, stepped out of the shadows and growled "What are you planning, Mr. Freeze?" Victor rolled his eyes. "I'm retiring. As you can see, Nora is healthy, and I have no reason for heists anymore. Can you please stop breaking into my home?" Victor requested annoyed.

Batman's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I will be watching you closely." He said but as he turned to leave, Sakura asked him, "I'm looking for my family." Batman asked her questions about them and was about to leave, again, when he got a call from Aquaman. "Batman, I need you to look for some people." Aquaman said over the com. Aquaman then listed the names of the Laskaris family. "Sakura Laskaris is with me, what is the problem?" Batman said back. "Get her on the com now. A mist Dragon is demanding to know where they are and is not is a reasonable mood!" Aquaman ordered as the sound of battle and an enchanting voice was heard.

"Put this on." Baatman gave Sakura a com device. "Aquaman, she's ready." Batman said. "Alright, Sakura. Your voice will be broadcast."

At the sametime

Atlantis (DC Universe)

Aria raged and roared thrashing about as the sea people refused to tell her where her family was. The orange and green scaly one with the hook hand and trident was the most annoying one. Then she heard Sakura's voice from crystals 'speakers' some of them were carrying "Aria, It's me Sakura. You need to calm down." Aria glared at the hook and trident wielding one and said, "Where is she?" aria's voice was so beautiful but right now it was full worry and anger.

Aquaman tried to placate her. "she's safe and unharmed. A college of mine is why she got on the com. We can help you find the others as well. Give us time please, mighty wyrm." Aquaman said knowing full well what an enraged Mist Dragon can do. There was a record of a mist dragon razing islands to rubble.

"You better." Aria promised before shrinking down to her 'scarf size' and wrapping around Aquaman's neck, snugly. One misstep and she rip his neck open. "Batman, Aria, the Mist Dragon, is holding me hostage. Please arrange for Sakura to come to the Watchtower." Aquaman asked. "I can do that." Batman's voice responded.

A few days later

The Watchtower

Base orbiting the earth

"Aquaman, what's with the scaly scarf?" The Flash, aka Barry Allen asked. Aria hissed scathing colorful words at the speedster. "That is Aria, she's not in the best of moods right now and she is more than willing to attack with deadly force." Aquaman warned as he felt her wrap tighter. "What's the ransom?" Superman asked as he floated over in all his glory. "Return my family or he dies." Aria hissed.

"I'd do as she says, Sups. She's quite protective of her treasure and family." A white clown haired short humanoid, wearing orange with blue trim outfit, said as he floated in the air. "Mister Mxyzptlk, why are you here?" Superman asked. "Just filling you in on my part of this problem." He makes a projector screen appear and started a slide show for the Justice League. "I met Zane some years ago when I needed a plus one for a party. I called in a favor from Titania and she gave me the best guy for the job."

"How was the party?" Barry asked. "absolutely dreadful. Someone tried to kill me with poison laced punch, but Zane started a massive brawl that made up for it." Mister Mxyzptlk said making the screen vanish. "Anyways, after they got into a spot of trouble crossing dimensions, I helped them arrive to this one intact. Bye!" Mister Mxyzptlk waved as he vanished with the sound of the TARDIS. "This is just great." Superman breathed through his nose. "Aira!" Sakura had just arrived before she ran over to Aguaman and took Aria off him. The Knight followed his silently.

Aquaman sighed in relief. "so, you are Sakura Laskaris. It's an honor to meet someone so treasured by a Mist Dragon." Aria was wrapped around Sakura neck and 'hugging' her. "She's got an interesting vocabulary." Barry commented. "where did she learn it?" The Zeta Tube (The teleporting method they use) flashed as Zane and Wonder woman, Diana, arrived. "From me mainly." Zane said, "Have you found Elektra yet?" He asked Sakura as she hugged him. "Where were you?" John Stewart, a marine with dark skin and apart of the Green Lantern Corp, asked annoyed.

"He was dealing with issues on Themyscira for the past week." Wonder woman defended him. Batman asked, "aren't men forbidden from going there?" Wonder woman made a 'so-so' gesture. "In most cases that'd be true, but he is a special case." She says. Turning to Zane, she asked "May I go into farther detail?" Zane answered, "They have a right to know the basics, Sister Diana." This confused the heroes. "Zane and his family are a part of The Children of the Hearth. They are followers of the goddess Hestia, making them my 'siblings' in a way. Electra isn't old enough to take the oath yet, but she is a direct descent of the founder of the order, she is family." Diana said firmly.

"That's interesting, but how can we find his kid? How old is she?" Barry asked. "Turned six a month ago. I remember that was when she found a way to take a page from Lakitu's book." Zane said with a chuckle. "The 'Riding on a cloud and dropping stuff on Mario' Lakitu? Isn't that dangerous?" Superman asked. "She's just starting to train her lightning affinity related skills. The worst she can do is make your hair stand on end for a while. The problem is that it's only been a day since we left from our dimension." Zane said. Batman picked up on what he was implying "You were spat out at different points in the past instead of the present, meaning that she might not have arrived yet or has been for some time."

The Knight got Zane's attention and wrote a note in the lettering of Hallownest. Zane took it and read outloud. "'I arrived a few hours before Void Kin found me, Nail Master Zane.' That proves that proves this is the Void Vessel I met when I sought training in Hallownest. It's good to meet you again, Shade Lord." Zane said patting the Knight on his head. "What's the bug's part in this mess?" Aquaman asked, trying to figure out why he got a feeling of dread near the bug. "He's a very powerful being and crashed into us mid travel, starting the problem. He was looking for me or Sakura, most likely." Zane said sticking his hands into the main console without harming it at all. Circuit lines glowed on his body as numbers flashed across the screen.

"What are you doing?" Batman demanded. "I've hacked the watch tower and I am using it to accesses all service on the planet. If Electra appeared on any of it, I will find where." Zane answered as the computer zoomed in on a rocky spine covered monster being attacked by a floating cat and a giant moth larva spewing white hot flames, riding on cloud. "Doom's Day." Superman stated, ready to fly over there asap. "Wait. Teleute has things under control." Zane says as a pale black-haired goth girl appeared out of nowhere and started to pummel Doom's Day to death.

"That is Teleute, the personification of death and the one who has had it with Doom's Day not dying for good." Zane beamed with pride as Doom's Day turned to ash and stayed dead. "Hold it! Wait is there a Red Lantern on the planet?" John demanded. "Dex-Starr is from earth and the Red Lanterns call me their greatest hero." Zane said with a sigh. "My Friend, Lobo, talked me into taking part this tournament Atrocitus created to scout out more Red Lanterns." Zane said as John shuddered.

"Two things, why are you friends with that mad man? And why are you still alive? Atrocitus 'scouting events' are blood baths with the victors joining the Red Lanterns." John said remembering what the Guardians of the Universe from the planet Oa had to say about that being and his misdeeds. "Ysmault isn't that bad a planet and the fighters there are like the Berserkers I've met in my home dimension." Zane commented. "They were mindless rage monsters that waged war over the smallest things." John stated. "That was until five years ago…" John tailed off, connecting the dots. "You did it again, didn't you? First you made the conquest hungry Reach into a bunch of biomechanical peacekeepers. Now you did something to make the Red Lanterns in coherent, even if they are still angry as ever, warriors that can make energy constructs like the other lantern corps can."

"Guilty as charged." Zane said with a grin. "All it took was me winning the tournament and beating Atrocitus himself because I refused his 'offer' to join. He tried to make me submit with the Butcher, the source of the Red Lanterns' 'Rage' power, but my will was stronger. They call me the Lord of Wrath now, because I am the daemon of wrath and sorrow, and because The Butcher couldn't enthrall me." Batman, Aquaman and Diana got the reference. "What is a daemon?" Martian Manhunter asked revealing himself. The green skinned alien from Mar had a hard time keeping calm as Zane's presence was triggering his inherent fear of fire.

"A step between man and god, normal used to denote one who has ascended after great trials in Greek myth. Most continue past that step and become full gods or fail and die." Batman said. "You make so much easier sounding than it is. It's not a path many survive, pass or fail." Zane stated. "How hard was it for you?" Barry asked after getting a snack with his super speed. "I lost my mentor and swear to avenge him, but the traitor tossed me into the Realm of Darkness years later. I got out a few years later after making a deal with a Demon Lord and putting the fear of guitars in very hard to kill inhabitants. Made sure that the traitor got defeated, I didn't kill him. Helped the Demon Lord get his revenge and ascended as a result." Zane said the broad strokes of what happened.

"falling to the pits of despair then raising to much greater heights at the price of sanity being affected." Aquaman commented rubbing his chin. "If the scrolls are right, it means that your lifespan is much greater than an average human but not immortal. For some reason there's a scroll just about not becoming immortal save for the 'right way'."

"That is for very good reason. Doom's Day did it the 'wrong way' and look what happened to him." Zane says offhand. "By the way, they are heading to Jump City." Batman sends a warning to Nightwing, and the Teen Titans, not antagonize them.

Meanwhile

DC Earth

Jump City

"Had no idea he knew death." Dex-starr said purring as Electra pet him. Electra smiled at the gray striped cat. "Papa's very important. Your red suit it's even torn?" She pouted tugging at her ripped sleeve. "It's made to last. Any idea why the death chick told us to go here." Dex-starr said glaring at the people staring at him when Electra wasn't looking. Sunshine sleepily clung to her back as they walked to the Jen and Barry ice cream shop. "She said I'd meet someone nice at the Ben and Jarry Ice Cream shop, even if the name is different in this dimension. Right, Sunshine?" Electra said with a smile. She got a light snore in response as Sunshine cocooned herself in burning hot silk.

"It's almost time? Yeah! Big Sis will be so proud!" Electra cheered. "Moth or butterfly? You never told me when you got drop on me yesterday. Then again, if a bug can keep Doom's day at bay for any amount of time, I don't think it matters." Dex-starr asked. "Volcarona is a moth like creature. Soon, Sunshine will break out of there with wings."

"Did you say 'moth'?" A 'mothman?' asked from one of the outdoors seats with a blonde hair teen eating an oversized sundae next to him. "I know you. Papa warned me that Killer Moth might try to steal Sunshine from me. You can have her!" Electra stated glaring. "No, no, no. I don't want to steal 'Sunshine'. She's much too hot for me to handle and if she can fight Doom's day, I feel it's best to leave her kind alone." Killer Moth Said waving his arms in a placating way. He gestures to the teen saying, "This is my daughter, Kitten." Kitten was too busy with her sundae to care.

"I'm Elektra and this is Red Lantern Dex-starr." Elektra said as Dex-starr order a small sundae. The cashier hit the silent alarm after making it. In the five minutes it took for the Teen Titens to response, Elektra, who was eating at the same time, and Killer Moth watched the cocoon shaking. "All right, what's your plan, Killer Moth?" Nightwing, formally Robin before he left to start his own team, demanded. He was ignored.

"Nightwing, they're more interested in that cocoon that is getting really hot." Cyborg, an African American with have his body replaced by tech, said worried. "Dude, this looks like something from SciFi." Beast boy, a green skinned and haired animal shapeshifter, said. "Friend Beast boy is on to something. We mustn't interfere with the hatching or the creature will likely be very distressed and attack." Starfire, an orange skinned red haired Tamaranean, said floated a few feet off the ground. "The Red Lantern is a bigger issue." The ashen skinned half demon, Raven said as her purple cloak hide her body from sight.

The cocoon burst with a blast of heat and flames, revealing Sunshine in her new majestic from. She was larger than normal at six feet tall. "Truly an amazing creature. She is like a mini-sun in the form of a moth." Killer Moth said as he was dragged away but his daughter who complained in a shrill voice about needing to meet her boyfriend.

"OK, Killer Moth is gone, and all is left is a mini Mothra, a rage cat, and a little girl." Cyborg said unsure of how to proceed. "It's Princess Electra! She has aged since She visited Tamaran. Come, we must greet her." Starfire said with awe. "Hold it! How do I know you aren't going to try to capture her from ransom?" Dex-starr hissed with wicked claws that dripped acidic energy. "I accidently spilled a bowl of soap on you that day and the rageful insults were the first words you said." Starfire says then whispers the words he had said that day.

"You still owe me for spilling that hot soup on me, brat!" Dex-starr said sheathing his claws. "Terra just informed me that are not to antagonize them." Nightwing said dryly just getting Batman's warning that was that to the Titan Tower. The same message they just missed to respond to the silent alarm. "How much trouble did we almost cause?" Cyborg asked. "You almost started an intergalactic war with the Red Lanterns because you harmed our hero's daughter." Dex-starr said with a nasty gleeful grin. "Let's go back to the tower and figure out what to do next in peace." Nightwing said.

At the Titan Tower

The Titan Tower was a t shaped skyscraper out in the Jump City bay. Terra, a blonde-haired geomancer with a shaky grasp on her powers, was staring at the group Batman warned them about. "The cat and mini-mothra I can get, but why is a six-year-old girl dangerous?" Terra asked. Electra pointed a finger at Terra and chanted "Stun bolt." A bolt of thunder magic mixed with natural electricity arced from the finger and Terra with a crackle. Terra's hair was on end and she found she couldn't move. Electra looked to be shaky on her feet.

"Good start but you overdid it after fortifying your cloud earlier." Dex-starr said guiding her to the wide coach. Terra couldn't move as the stun spell normally lasted a minute. "Just use a formless energy attack on me please" Electra said, and Dex-starr poked her with red energy shaped like a stick. The 'stick' became electricity and she absorbed it, feeling a little better. "Galvanism is so useful." Electra said as she dozed off.

"Dude, she turned 'rage' energy into electricity! That's sweet!" Beast Boy said grinning at the 'cool' skill she utilized "But how did she do it?" Cyborg asked as Terra shuddered, the stun effect faded. "It's a sort of alchemy that turns any formless or energy-based attack into electricity. It's so rare that most don't believe it's real." Raven said in a monotone voice. She had taken off her hood to show her violet hair and eyes with a red jewel on her forehead.

"She got it from Zeus a week ago, for petty reasons." Dex-starr said. "was it to one up his brothers?" Beast Boy asked surprising them. "Yes, but I didn't expect you to figure that out. Electra confided in me that she had a weird dream week a before there vacation here. A giant golden eagle wrapped her in his wings as a bolt of lightning struck them both." Dex-starr said. "If that isn't the Greek drama queen, then I'm a dog." Thunder rumbled outside. "You know I'm right! Your counterpart is more dramatic than the god of theater!" Dex-starr yelled out a window. The thunder stopped.

"Bug, you got any mouse tempura?" Dex-starr asked Sunshine, who nodded and flew to Electra's luggage and rummaging through it. "mouse tempura?" Raven inquired, swearing she heard that dish somewhere in folklore. "Kitsune love it and I can see why." Dex-starr said daydreaming. Sunshine reeled the line of string shot back, pulling a small case that read 'Sakura's snack stash' on it. "Give it here." Dex-starr demanded, catching the case when it was tossed to him. He popped it open and snapped up the battered and deep-fried rodent with relish.

"Won't Princess Sakura not want you stealing her snacks?" Starfire asked. Dex-starr paused eating only to say, "She packs at least a dozen of these cases for some reason. She won't miss one case." They looked at Raven for answers. "It is traditional to leave offerings at shrines. mouse tempura was once the most common offering but fell out of practice because of the difficulty in catching the mice." Raven looks at the case and noted the trace on the food.

"What Kami is Sakura a Miko of?" Raven asked, "I can feel the trace on the food." Sunshine made a flaming arrow pointing at the sun dipping in the sky out the window. "ah, Amaterasu. That makes sense. She is known to take the form of a kitsune in some legends." Raven mused, remembering. "Does she get a cut of the offerings?" Sunshine nodded vigorously and makes a tailed Sakura of fire getting a package from a richly robed kitsune. The image of Sakura 'sighs' then puts the package into a pile of more packages.

"I guess it starts to pile up over time." Terra said. "It's getting late. Who wants to prep the guest room?" Starfire zoomed off to do just that. "Batman said we need to watch her for a few days. Her mother is searching for the family's bodyguard." Nightwing said reading the latest message from his mentor. "What kind of bodyguard would this family need?" Terra asked. "One that does not need to eat, drink, or sleep. He has no need for money and his loyalty to them is without question. His last master was evil, but Anubis only joined Dio because he got beat soundly. Zane offered him his greatest wish." Dex-starr purred. "lots of fights?" Beast Boy guessed. "Not quite, but close. Anubus just wants to sharpen his skills as a swordsman and be praised for it. Dio offered him the world, but Zane offered him the worlds. Can you imagine the fighters just waiting for a new challenger?" Dex-starr had a bloodthirsty wistfulness about him as he said this.

"Red Lantern Rex-Starr, what's your status?" Rex-starr's boss called from the red power ring. "This is Red Lantern Rex-starr, Status is Vermillion tinted, Red Lantern Rankorr." Rex-starr replied in formal way. "in what way?" Rankorr requested. "The plan to capture and imprison Doom's Day failed but he is dealt with for good. Zane and his family are in town, on Earth." Rex-starr reported. There was silence as Rankorr wrapped his mind around this news. When he replied, they heard how tired he sounded. "When I volunteered to lead the Red Lanterns after Zane caved Atrocitus's skull in, I had no idea how much work it was." They hear him sigh. "Who or what killed Doom's Day and what is their relation to Zane?"

"The personification of Death had enough of Doom's Day coming back like it a revolving door and 'made it stick'. We both know Zane's connection to Death." Rex-starr said warning him that there were people around him that didn't need to know that info. "Very well, return to base." Rankorr ordered. "I will depart in 15 earth hours. I have to make sure Princess Electra has recovered nicely." Rex-starr stated. "When it rains, it pours. Don't do anything that will reflect badly on Zane's opinion of us." Rankorr said, ending the conversation.

"Doom's Day is dead?" Nightwing asked. "A primal force in the shape of a gothic teen punched him to dust. Then she told us to go the ice cream parlor in Jump City, just in time to meet you guys." Rex-starr said. "whenever a Laskaris family member is around, things get weird. That's the Laskaris' Law at work." They look at him in disbelief. He sighs then says, "It's like Murphy's Law but not as bad in the grand scheme of things."

"How long has this been in effect?" Raven asked thinking of several ways it got started. "over 32,000 years ago. Zane never told me why or how, but I bet there was deal involved." Rex-starr said. "That is very possible, but I wouldn't pry any further into that topic." Raven captioned her teammates.

Hours later

The Watch Tower

Zane stared at the cosmos out the window silently. Martian Manhunter walked up to him and asked. "Having trouble sleeping?" Zane glanced his way the continued his vigil. "Remembered something that Darkseid said to me about five years ago." Manhunter knew of the power he had. "When did you meet him?" Zane remembered the day crystal clear. "He 'invited' me to a 'friendly spar' aka he forced me to fight him with the Red Lantern Corp's lives at stack." Zane said.

"I'm guessing you well enough for him to let you and them live." Manhunter stated. "He took my strongest attack and only lost his arms because he used them to block it. He restored his arms and proceeded to systematically break my body without killing me. The worst thing is, he found me to be just barely a challenge." Zane said with a pained expression. "After nearly killing me, he said, and I quote, 'You exceeded my expectations, but you are far from at your prime. Try again when you've grown into your power.' He left me bleeding out for all the Red Lanterns to see, hopping to that it would crush that image of me."

Manhunter found this to be normal Darkseid behavior, based on the information the League had on him. Zane grinned slowly as he remarked, "But he failed to account for one thing, the Red Lantern Corp found me an even bigger hero. They value someone who can get back up after that more than someone that never fell. Darkseid cemented their views about me as I visited the royal family of Tamaran in a full body cast. The Tamaraneans found me to be one of the greatest warriors they ever met, even if I dislike some of their views. Regrettably the king and queen I had met died a year ago and the fact that Blackfire and Starfire had a hard life. Blackfire has mellowed and become a good queen." Zane rambled.

"What is it that troubles you?" Manhunter asked. "there is something at work that I can't put on finger on yet. Everything happened in such a way that is too perfect. I got dropped in Diana's home, just in time to prevent some whack job from angering Hades, who isn't evil but not friendly by any means. Then I get roped into a five-day tournament against all the amazons without rest between fights. That's 120 hours of fighting to see how long I can last. Before you ask, I won because the time limit was reached." Zane said.

Manhunter recalled where the family ended up and what they caused happen. It lined up too well for his liking. "Anubis is likely somewhere where he will help the 'grand plan'. Do you think the chaos lord is behind it?" Zane shook his head. "It's a primal entity that knew Death invited us. The Red Lanterns informed me that the beasts of the Emotion Spectrum are acting oddly. They are watching the Earth from where they are. With that in mind, there one thing that comes to mind that might be behind this." Zane said as he picked out seven lights get slowing closer to the earth.

"The life entity." Hal Jordan, the other Green Lantern of the sector earth was in. He had white skin and short brown windswept hair. "The beasts are approaching the earth as we speak. Everyone one of the Lantern Corps are preparing for the worst. They expect the rumored 'Black Lanterns' to show up any day now." Hal said as he joined them. Zane snorted "Them? Teleute put a stop to that years ago. I guess her actions prompted Life to make some moves." Zane stated.

"This is good news for the most part. Soon as the Life Entity gets the Central Power Battery, it will start to look for White Lantern Corp members." Hal said. Zane noticed a fast-moving storm cloud moving towards Jump City. "speaking of things approaching, Electra's got some beings that might teach her a thing or two coming her way. I had hoped to track them down at some point, but this will work just fine."

A month ago

A few hours before dawn

DC Multiverse

Earth

Dakota City, USA

Hawkins' house

Robert Hawkins, a dark skinned non-metahuman resident of a planet full of dangerous people, good and bad, shot up awake as he heard a crash down stair. He put on his glasses and grabbed the metal bat he kept close for intruders. As he stepped out of his bedroom, he saw his children, who also heard the noise. Sharon, his college bound daughter, and Virgil, his dreadlock haired teenager who had arcs of electricity around him. Virgil was looking worried. "We will talk about you being a metahuman later." Robert whispered telling them to hush.

They creep down the stairs, still hearing the intruder being quite loud. "Pops, that isn't normal intruder." Virgil whispered. Sharon looked at him, asking him to elaborate. "The air in charged with odd energy. I'll explain better later, but it's got the same feel as a portal I was near." They heard the intruder cursing but not in English. They reached the living room and barely made out a cloaked figure brandishing a saber at a portal that quickly closed.

Robert cursed as he stepped on something that rolled away noisily. The Figure whirled and then somethings happened all at once. Robert ducked as the saber cut the bat just above his hand like a hot knife. Virgil blasted the intruder with an electrical blast, doing little more than knocking the hood off. And Sharon bumped into the light switch blinding everyone.

After a few moments they one got a good look at each other. "You are the residents of this building? Sorry about the couch." The Jackal headed intruder said bashfully, then added, "And the bat." Robert looked at the much shorter bat in his hands then at the smashed couch, that looked like a car hit it, before sighing. "This will require coffee." He says as he drops the bat handle and trudges to the kitchen.

An hour later

"So, you are time displaced and have no idea where your 'Lord' will be?" Robert asked as they sat at the dinner table. "That is right. Lord Zane and my charges could be anywhere or when." Anubis said then, with a shudder, adds, "I pity whoever gets in Lady Aqua's way." Virgil cracked a smile and said, "She must an amazing woman." Anubis nodded. "She will face gods to protect others. She's one hell of a woman."

"Good to see this 'Lord Zane' has good taste in women. But what are you going to do about the stuff you wrecked?" Sharon asked. "I will replace it with the money I carry with me." Anubis stated. "Virgil, now would be a good time to explain what you have been doing with your powers." Robert stated sizing the moment. "I'm Static, the superhero. My friend, Richie, is Gear. I know you are going to ask me to stop but…" Virgil was cut off by his father, who said, "I don't care if you are a superhero, All I ask is you come home safe and alive. Your mother was a hero of a different kind and she worried me just as much."

"Not to be rude but what happened to her?" Anubis asked. "Jean was a paramedic and died in the line of duty during the Dakota riots, stray bullet." Robert said "Hero's come in all shapes and sizes, even a brutish teen with tendency to smash your face in." Anubis said with a chuckle. "Sounds like you know firsthand." Sharon said. "Were you a villain?" Anubis laughed loudly at this. "I was one of the nine elite of Lord Dio, my previous lord, before Jotaro smashed my and left me at the bottom of the Nile to rust. Then Lord Zane found me and gave me a new better body."

"what are you anyways? You have no heartbeat, but you are too lifelike to be a robot." Virgil asked "I am a living sword. The perfect bodyguard for Lord Zane's children." Anubis said proudly. "They sneak away a lot, don't they?" Robert asked knowingly. Anubis slumped and muttered "too many times to count" Robert chuckled. "It's the same with most kids, at some point they push the limits to find right and wrong. You need a place to stay?"

"Pops, are you sure we should let him stay? He could be lying." Virgil asked worried. "I'm a good judge of character and Anubis is just a little enthusiastic about pleasing his boss. Besides with him around, you don't need to worry as much about our safety. Not many would tangle with him." Robert said as Anubis sat in shock. "You are almost as kind as Lord Zane! I will make sure to not be a burden during my stay!"

A few days later

Hawkins' house

Rickie, a blonde-haired teen wearing glasses, walked into the kitchen blindfolded as Virgil lead him in. "I get that you had to tell your pops about us, but why am I blindfolded?" Richie then paused. "something smells good." The Hawkins' family silently laughed at this s Richie sat down and removed the blindfold. "Food's on." Anubis, wearing an apron, said carrying a tall pot that smelled good. The table already had bread and the other components of lunch laid out. "Dude, you've got a god of the dead cooking for you." Rickie said.

"I was made in the likeness of the god Anubis, but I am not he. Hope you like gumbo. They haven't got much food left right now, so I made kitchen sink gumbo." Anubis said as he served the food. "Backpack analyze Anubis" Rickie commanded. His 'helper bot crawled out of his bag and scanned Anubis. "Metal body made of unknown alloy and unknown power source that reads human in origin?" Rickie reads the results. "I'm a Stand in the shape of a living sword. A human made me but I'm not human. Save any questions until after you eat." Anubis said jabbing a spoon at him.

They found it to be great and not too spicy. "What is a Stand?" Rickie asked. "Think of it like a ghost born of will power but they can come in any shape or power. Anubis can ghost through stuff and possess people who grab his sword body." Virgil explained. "And why is he staying at your house?" Rickie asked. "He needed a place to stay and has been helping around the house. He knows how to repair a lot of things. He says he needed to learn it to keep up his boss. From what he's told us, I can tell he's underplaying it." Robert said.

"OK, now I'm really interested in this boss. What's the story?" Rickie asked. It took about forty minutes to explain the barebones of Zane and his family's life, but it was thrilling for the listeners. "That is the 'need to know' version. Lord Zane has secrets even his wife doesn't know about and he shares a lot of things with her." Anubis stated. "Signs of a healthy marriage." Robert commented. "You can ask me about some of the places he's been but there are places he keeps secret from everyone." Anubis said firmly and they got the message. Anubis spend the next few weeks like this, helping around the house and telling tales.

present time

Morning

Hawkins' Home

"They're here!" Anubis cheered holding the newspaper like it was proclaiming world peace. "How is Doom's Day being punched to death by a goth girl tell you anything about Zane's Family?" Sharon asked Anubis points to the little girl sitting on a cloud in one of the photos. "That is Princess Electra, Lord Zane's youngest daughter! The giant bug aiding the Red Lantern cat is Sunshine. I knew I would get a sign if I waited long enough!" Anubis whistled a cheerful tone as he flipped pancakes.

"Someone is in a good mood?" Robert commented reaching for the paper. He looked at the headlines then checked again. "Well I'll be, Death really did visit my children's born." He says. "What's the big news, Pops?" Virgil said after sliding down the banister and sitting down to eat. "You know that odd woman I told you a saw out of the corner of my eye when you were born? Apparently, she is death and Doom's Day got on her bad side." Robert said. "The little girl is Zane's daughter, Electra." Sharon said.

"she looks adorable. She is staying at the Titan Tower in Jump City right now, with a giant moth?" Robert read unsure what to make of it. "Sunshine has been working for that for years. She must be as proud a peacock when that happened." Anubis said putting pancakes shaped like Zane and his family out. "You make life like pancakes." Virgil said amused. "Princess Sakura asked me to do one day and I never regretted." Anubis said.

"I wouldn't be so happy yet. Look at this." Virgil shows them an article on his laptop. 'Mutt attacks Dakota citizen unprovoked. "That vile Muckraker from last week is going to get it!" Anubis raged. "Hold on. Explain what happened." Robert said. "Last week, when I was doing some shopping, some flame haired delinquent attacked me say and I quote 'That journalist paid me big money to rough you up, Mutt.' Then he tried to burn me alive. I punched to dreamland and went about my shopping." Anubis explained.

"Hotstreak is his name. Metahuman with fire powers and a nasty personality to boot. The photos and video must have been doctored to some degree." Virgil said looking at the generic liking 'victim' being punched on the article. "How do you know it was a crooked journalist?" Virgil asked as he looked up previous articles this guy had written. "He tried to black mail me and sounded quite sure I'd cave to his demands." Anubis frowned. "I keep records of things for cases like this, Rules #72563 'always have proof to counter unsavory claims' That's from the Laskaris family handbook"

"Looks like he has a history of these claims, but no one has had enough proof to do anything." Virgil said "There's a at least a thousand people he's tried to blackmail in the past decade. They even have a well-hidden group chat." Virgil got an idea and called Rickie. "Hey Rickie, you've seen the article about Anubis, right?" He listens. "I need your help to contact the other victims and compile enough proof to sue the journalist." Virgil smiled and hung up. "He's more than ready to help."

"We'll need a good lawyer and those aren't cheap." Sharon reminded them. "There is one person that might know someone, Batman." Virgil runs upstairs and minutes later returned with a secure comp devise with batman's logo on it. "Static to Batman. Static to Batman, you read?" He says into it. Batman's growly voice responses. "This is Batman. This better be important Static." Virgil smirked at them and answered back. "Anubis is in a spot of trouble and needs a lawyer that isn't in anyone's pocket."

"I see. I'll investigate this on my end. Make sure his alibi is airtight." Batman said and the comp went silent. "With the world's greatest detective helping, that muckraker will be buried in no time!" Anubis grinned.

An hour later

Gotham City

Wayne Manor

Batcave

"Master Bruce, what's troubling you?" Alfred Pennyworth, the Wayne Family butler, asked as Bruce Wayne was thinking hard as he stared at the Bat Computer. "A 'vile muckraker' is causing trouble and I was asked to find a lawyer that hasn't met him in court yet." Bruce stated, rubbing his chin. "Must be one of the nastier ones if you were called." Alfred said with distain. "Any chance it's the one that tried to blackmail you last year. He was crafty but did a sloppy job doctoring the footage."

"It's him." Bruce sighed. "He changed his name again but it's him." Alfred looked at the article "He's step up his doctoring, but his tactics haven't changed in slightest. I believe Oliver Queen hired a 'Kate Spence' at one point. She is a no-nonsense defense attorney and would love to take this case. How is Master Zane handling it?" Alfred mused. The ground shook ever so slightly. "He's venting his frustrations in a rocky area outside of town and is the source of the earthquake for the past" He checks the time "twenty minutes."

"He is sparing with that 'Naljian Destructor' of his?" Alfred said unfazed. "His daughter warned everyone not to go within five miles of where he's sparing, for their own safety." Bruce stands up and Alfred starts to walk to the elevator. "I will prepare for your meeting with Oliver Queen in Seattle at once." Bruce smiled as Alfred left the lair. "Good old Alfred one step ahead of me." The data collected by Gear would make this case much easier.

At the Titan Tower

"Brother, sense the young elemental human in the Titan Tower." A buff male being with blue skin and blue shogun inspired armor said to a shorter yellow being in similar armor but in yellow. "Yes Brother, it is our duty as senior elementals to teach the new sibling, even if they are born human." These were Thunder, the big guy, and Lightning, the thin one. "The 'newspaper' showed she has a grip on making ca cloud to ride." Thunder said holding a copy of the newspaper for his brother to see. "That is good news, Brother. We sensed her tap into her power yesterday. Very chaotic and unrefined." Lightning says knocking on the living room window, riding on clouds.

Electra, holding Amber the doll, opened the window to let them in. "Hello there. Are you the teachers I saw in my dream last night?" She asked. "Princess, you need to be careful around elementals. They are dangerous like the Fae!" Amber said worried for her new owner. Princess Sakura had entrusted her to her sister on her fifth birthday. "Please describe this dream, little sister." Lightning asked kindly. "I was in a tower shaking with quakes, then bolts of blue and yellow stuck the tower and the quakes stopped." She said cutely.

"sounds like a warning from the divine. Is there one who moves the earth here?" Thunder asked. The island quaked as all, but Terra stumbled about. "What's going on?" Cyborg asked. "Terra's corntal slipped somehow. She might be having a nightmare or something." Beast Boy said, as he knew Terra was sleeping in. "I'll walk her!" Electra said flying to Terra room. They heard a zap and Terra yelping in pain. Terra dragged herself in with arcing hair that stood on end. Electra was grinning cutely as she floated back on a cloud.

"You need to learn control, young earth mover." Thunder said sternly. "I've tried that! No matter how much I try, I always slip up!" Terra yelled as her pent-up emotions exploded and ground quaked even harder. Lightning zapped her out cold for everyone's safety. "Little sister, your first lesson is to bend the element to your will but let it flow like it wants to at same time. That is the key to mastering your elemental powers. Something she has not learned." Thunder said looking at Terra sadly then at his brother.

"We will teach her as well." Lightning said to the Teen Titans, who were unsure of how to take what happened. "Is Friend Terra OK?" Starfire asked worried and very conflicted. "I was worried this would happen. She bottled her emotions in a bad way, and they spilled out with stress after lack of progress." Revan explained. "Didn't your home world create Trigon by rejecting their emotions?" Electra asked remembering something Zane had said.

Raven winced. "That is a mistake my people made that lead to my birth. Interestingly Trigon didn't enact his plan on my sixteenth birthday. Any idea why?" Raven asked showing a hint of annoyance and hope. "Papa killed him and his hundreds of evil sons! He came back from the battle drenched in blood, which was a little nasty, but so cool." Electra said brightly as they all good at her shocked. "Dude, Zane is scarier than I ever imagined." Beast Boy said. The Elemental brothers were even more shocked at this name drop. "You the daughter of the Sun Swimmer? It is an honor to teach you." Lightning said as they bowed respectively.

"What is with Zane and people fearing or respecting him?" Nightwing asked as they felt a distant and repeated quaking. "The Sun Swimmer must be quite cross for his sparing to be felt from here." Thunder said worried. "The Sun Swimmer vent his rage into his strikes against the metal puppet he spars with. More the ground quakes, greater his rage is." Lightning said shivering. "It is not safe to be within five miles of him when he gets started." He was speaking from experience. They had strayed too close to watch and got pelted with red hot shrapnel as the ground splintered and heated up under the sparing duo.

"How long does he spar?" Cyborg asked triangulating the source of the quakes. "A few days. Hopefully he will be done before the beasts arrive." Lightning said as he barely saw the seven glowing dots in the sky. "you mean the lantern beasts? The Butcher (bull of rage), the Predator of Love (a violet dinosaur?), Ophidian The Tempter (A orange snake of Avarice), Adara (A blue bird of Hope), Parallax (The Parasite of Fear), Proselyte (a indigo squid of Compassion), and finally Ion (the Basking whale of Will power)." Nightwing listed.

"Something is stirring, something ancient but not 'evil', nor is it 'good'. It is 'life'." Thunder tried to explain. "It is much older than us and we have no idea what will happen when it returns from oblivion." Beast Boy nodded "so hope for the best and prepare for the worst." He said plainly. "Found the cause of Zane's bad mood." Cyborg said and winced. "Someone tried to frame her bodyguard and Zane is 'venting' ten miles outside of Gotham City in an abandoned rock quarry that is becoming a molten crater as we speak."

"The brutish mutt may be what he is, but he is family!" Amber declared. "I'm picking up some pulsing energy 500 meters below Zane, that partially matches the lantern Beasts energy signature." Cyborg said as the Titan Tower computers showed wavelength graphs. Of the seven beasts and the unknown eighth energy. "Brother, will need to pick up training rate." Lightning said.

A few days later

Gotham City

Abandoned Rock Quarry

Zane panted as he deactivated the level 20+ alien tech he spared with. Behind him a cooling wall of the crater crumbled away to reveal the White Lantern Central Battery. "And there is Life's plan. Use me to uncover the battery…" He trailed off as the seven beasts floated over the very deep crater. "And there they are." Zane said. Energy from the Battery and the seven Beast mingled in the sky and a giant white being with massive feather wings appeared. It dwarfed the beasts, being the size of the earth itself. Its eyes opened and gazed down at Zane. "you are a lot bigger than I imagined." Zane commented, breaking the ice. The Life Entity said nothing as it picked up the battery and vanished along with the beasts.

"That's what I get for stopping Nekron (the entity of death aka lack of the emotional spectrum) from going the path of 'Blackest Night'." Zane grumbled. He noticed how deep the crater was. It was a hundred times deeper than when he started. "Man, that muckraker really got to me." From above, at the lip of the crater, Aqua shouted down. "Have you calmed down, Honey?" Zane smiled up at her. "I've calmed down. I'll be up a minute." He yells then wall jumps out of the crater, sweeping Aqua off her feet and leaning into a kiss. "You know what they say, 'Life finds a way.'" He joked quoting Jurassic Park.

Aqua laughed and said, "I found something you have to see in New York." Zane arched a brow as she stood up. "Lead the way, my snow fairy." Zane said and the departed a leisurely pace.

Jump City

Titan Tower

Outside the tower

"Good you have learned lesson one, young earth mover." Thunder said to Terra who smiled but was still frustrated with how much fast Electra was improving. "How is it that a little girl is so much better than me?" Terra asked. "Thunder looked over where Lightning and Electra were. Electra was working on 'Chain Lightning', an attack that hit multiple targets. "her element is closer to ours than yours is. You must also remember she has a different view on her power." Thunder said. "How so?" Terra asked, let the mud drop the shapes she forced it to take.

"She is the daughter of the Sun Swimmer, who is one with fire. He knows the dangers of the flames he wields but trains to further master them. Every element can harm and 'heal'." Thunder said. Terra listened intently as Thunder explained how geomancy could be used. "What about 'death'? How can that 'heal'?" Terra asked. Thunder smiled "That is a question the Sun Swimmer answered for us. Death is the end of one thing and beginning of another. There are times when the sleep of death is 'healing'. Do you understand?"

"kind of, can we get back to the next lesson?" Terra asked. Thunder laughed. "That was lesson two, understanding the 'truth' of the elements. Lesson three is how to use that knowledge wisely."

Meanwhile

Inside Titan Tower

"Zane's left where he was sparing after the planet sized entity vanished." Cyborg reported. "All signs of the beasts and the 'life entity' are gone without a trace. Green Lantern did report the beasts returned to wherever they traveled from but no news on 'Life'." Nightwing sighed "Laskaris' Law, right?" He asked Starfire. "Yes, this is the 'curse' of the Laskaris family at work. I have never experienced it on this scale before, but we will be alive after things calm down." Starfire said before going back to watching the training below.

"Dude, is anyone going to talk about the fact Zane killed Trigon, and his many sons, then put all that power in a Bident (a two-pronged polearm like a trident) for his youngest daughter to wield?" Beast Boy said pointing at the weapon near Electra. A shaft so black it absorbed all light, topped with a stylized version of the face of trigon with four jewels for 'eyes' and two 'horn' prongs. "Having my 'father' and his family reduced to being turned into a weapon is hard to react to. Good news is, the world is safe from Trigon." Raven said in her normal tone.

"Rae, you are my girlfriend, but sometimes you creep me out." Beast Boy said. "Do we even know why Zane slaughter them?" They didn't answer his question. "I can answer that." Amber said walking into the room. "The foul four eyed demon lead an army of his sons to invade our dimension three years ago. Lord Zane met them halfway and made a deal with Trigon." Amber said. "A battle to the death with loser's power forged into a weapon as the prize. Trigon believed his children would be enough to tire Lord Zane out. As you know, this proved to be false. Only Zane knows how he won and returned coated in his enemies' blood with prize in hand."

"That must have been some battle." Cyborg said, "I wonder what he's doing right now."

Dc Universe

Earth

New York, China Town

Aqua lead Zane to a small antique shop that was 'off the beaten path'. Everything here was oriental in origin. Zane heard a tune being whistled. Behind the desk was an elderly oriental man with a long beard, smoking a long and thin pipe. "This is your husband?" He said to Aqua. "This is Zane. Zane, meet Mr. Wing." Aqua said. Mr. Wing looked Zane up and down. "He is the one that watch a movie about me?" Mr. Wing asked.

"Yes Mr. Wing. Your shop is featured in a couple movies about the mogwai." Zane said respectfully. "Ah, they focus on Billy Peltzer, my assistant." Mr. Wing said nodding. "Billy, there are people that wish to meet you!" Mr. Wing yelled and Billy Peltzer, who looked about a year older than what he looked in the first Gremlins movie, came from back of the shop. "What can I do for you?" Billy asked. Zane asked some questions and learned that in this universe the events of movie happened but later time period.

"Mr. Wing was generous to let me work at his shop so I can see Gizmo." Billy said. Zane smiled "That's great to hear. How is Mr. Wing's health lately?" Zane asked. Mr. Wing laughed in a wheezing way. "I may be old, but I am far from dying. Aqua's unexpected healing magic relived some aches that were troubling me, and for that I am grateful." Aqua was happy for the praise. "You wish to meet Gizmo, right?" Mr. Wing asked and Zane nodded. "Billy, show them Gizmo." Mr. Wing said.

Billy lead them to the covered cage in a corner of the shop. "Gizmo, there's some people that want to meet you." Billy said lifting the burlap cover. Gizmo looked like a small brown and white furred creature with big eyes and bat ears. "hello there, Gizmo. I am Zane and this is Aqua, my wife. I've wanted to meet you for a long time." Gizmo waved. "You like to whistle? I do too." Zane whistled and Gizmo joined his whistling.

"Mr. Wing would like you better if you bought some stuff." Billy commented. "I saw a few things I was interested in." Zane said, brushing Gizmo's fur before showing Billy the items he was interested in.

An hour later

"Mr. Wing, is this what I think it is?" Zane asked looking at a collect of a few dozen tasseled wooden poles topped with a 3-D Japanese symbol, none of them alike. Mr. Wing had a gleam in his eye. "What do you think them are?" He asked. Zane grinned "They are Edo period hikeshi matoi. They were flags the matoimochi waved from the top of the burning building to alert the rest where the fire was. If these are originals from the Edo period, then you've got some of the oldest firefighter flag collection outside of museums or private collections." Zane answered inspecting the matori for signs of being fake.

"You are correct. These are period correct and are a few hundred years old, despite their worn but intact state. If you are interested in buying them, I must warn you that they are 'cursed' with the memories of the hikeshi they belonged to." Mr. Wing said with a hard look. He was impressed by Zane's knowledge of the items, but the last owners were driven insane by the memories of the past haunting their dreams. "I have some of the tools they used as well, if you are interested in them."

Zane's grin widened as his eyes sparkled. "600 grand of the lot." He said. Mr. Wing puff on his pipe considering the offer. Zane had proven he had the money and cared about what he was buying. "You don't mind dreaming of Edo period fires as long as you own them?" He questioned. "It's not as bad as the nightmares that lurk in my mind. Besides I've bought a third of your inventory." Zane stated. Mr. Wing wheezed a small laugh. "Best customer in years. I agree with that price, I might be able to sleep without seeing a bunch of firemen fighting each other just so they can get to the fire first." Mr. Wing said relived.

Zane paid a hefty amount of money for his purchases and summoned Phil to store them safely. "Your husband has interesting retainers." Mr. Wing said to Aqua, not shocked about Phil, at all. His assistant, on the hand, was looking at every angle of Phil in wonder. "Amazing, you've been all over the globe and then some." He said as Phil was more than happy to accept the praise but didn't say anything as Zane was loading stuff into him. "Phil has been in the family for a long time. He's trusted to guard a lot of stuff." Aqua said warmly.

A few days later

Jump City

Titan Tower

Outside of tower

Anubis grinned at the newspaper proclaiming, 'Muckraker gets his just desserts at long last!' He walks up to the tower saying, "Princess Electra, are you enjoying... EECK!" Anubis was blasted by a beam of white lightning into the bay. The newspaper fell to the ground, unharmed. Electra paled and pointed at Lightning saying, "He did it!" This made Starfire laugh, clearly amused by Anubis' reaction. "Princess Electra's 'super skill' worked at last! And she didn't faint this time." Starfire praised as Electra was leaning on Sunshine.

An hours later

Titan Tower

Anubis looked annoyed at being forced to swim back to the tower. "Princess Electra, it's nice that you have gotten a handle on your magic but please stop blasting me." Anubis said as he packed her stuff up. "we need to meet up with the others." Lightning and Thunder bowed to Electra. "It was an honor to train you. Take what you learned and reach the highest heights" Thunder said. "You are welcome to visit us at any time."

As everyone said their goodbyes, Electra had tears in her eyes. She would miss them even that weird Killer Moth guy.

A week later

Back in their home dimension

The Garden

Palace

Zane was looking at a package that arrived soon after they got home. It was from Maximillion Pegasus, 'inventor' of the game of Dual Monsters on world Zane classified as 'World of Games' because of games being a means to solve a lot of problems there, even in early days. "Shade Lord, do you sense what I sense?" Zane asked the Knight. The Knight nodded. Zane opened the package and found a VHS tape and a Dual Monsters card that radiated power. It depicted a metallic yellow dragon called the Winged Dragon of Ra. "What the hell is he thinking? I warned him not to make the god cards, but he did! I warned him not to mess with shadow magic, but he did! Now he sends me one of them for some reason." Zane rants as Nightmare Chirithy enters the room with Hannah in tow.

"I sensed something dangerous and I don't mean the pint-sized Shade Lord that's standing next to you." Nightmare Chirithy snarked. "Hannah get the magic VHS player." Zane asked. Hannah saluted and wheeled in a TV with a jury-rigged VHS player attacked to it. Zane had made this to view 'dangerous' VHS tapes without getting cursed or whatever they did. Zane slide the tape in and the platinum haired red suit wearing image of Pegasus appeared. He looked younger than the last time Zane had visited him.

"Hello little birdy!" Pegasus' jovial voice greeted them. "If you're seeing this then someone has stolen my Millennium Eye and/or killed me, let's hope not." Pegasus moves his hair to show a golden eye in his left socket. "Now I know what you are thinking 'Didn't you give the god cards to the tomb keepers to guard?'" He said amused before getting serious. "You'd be right about Obelisk the Tormenter and Slifer the Sky Dragon cards. But Ra had other plans. I tried to hand it over, but my hand refused to let go of Ra. The image of you holding the card appeared in my mind as the voice of Ra demanded it be made true." Pegasus sighed. "I relented and recorded this tape the next day. I don't know when you are getting this, but you must not let anyone get their hands on that card! Please contact me to see my status. If I am dead, please burry me with Cecelia." The tape ended then destroyed itself via shadow magic.

Zane checked the VHS player for damage, but it was fine. "Ready to check on Pegasus." Hannah said in her halting mannerism. "I need to make plans before we do anything. I'm going to call him first." Zane said calling. "Master Pegasus is indisposed right now. Please state your name and reason for calling." Croquet's, Pegasus' right-hand man and butler, gravelly voice said. "This is Zane Laskaris. I'm requesting the status of Pegasus on par his wishes." Zane said.

"Master Zane, Pegasus will be pleased the package made it to you. He is missing an eye and recovering at this moment. Rest assured Master Pegasus is alive and will be came on his feet in the future." Croquet said in a slightly happier tone. "If you can provide add in his recovery that will be welcomed." Zane mauled it over before answering "I will be over in a few days." Hannah pulled out five cards saying, "Saved these from sea days ago." Zane looked at the cards with interest. The five pieces of Exodia the forbidden one, get all five in your hand and you win.

"When I get to that world, I will return them to their owner. I have the feeling that some fool threw them into the sea to weaken the owner's deck." Zane said rolling his eyes.

A few days later

World of Games

Duelist Kingdom (Pegasus' private island)

Peguasus' Castle

Zane finished healing and setting the fake eye into Pegasus's gored left socket. "This eye works like your other eye, nothing special to it. Can't do anything about the scarring around the socket because whoever did this cursed it to scar like that, must have enjoyed seeing you suffer." Zane said to Pegasus as Croquet held a mirror for his boss to look at. "Zane-boy, you are a miracle worker! It looks just like my right eye." Pegasus said dramatically. "Just tell me who did this to you." Zane asked then whipped around brandishing his spear as a turban wearing man of Egyptian descent appeared from a ripple in the air. He had a golden ankh key around his neck. "Peace, warrior. We seek the same thing." The stranger said in rich voice. "I am Shadi, guardian of the Millennium items." Zane lowered his weapon. "It was the brat with the Ring, or more specifically the spirit of the Ring." Pegasus answered clearing things up.

Shadi nodded then looked at Zane closer. The Pure Nail (spear) was interesting with the feeling of dangerousness it had but the wielder was far more interesting. "I wish to judge your soul, if you will allow me." Shadi said "Go ahead spirit, use your Millennium Key to enter but be warned, my soul is more complex than anything you've seen." Zane said as Shadi put the Key to Zane's forehead and turned it.

Moments later Shadi stumbled back shocked. "That is more complex that the spirit of Puzzle's soul but more diverse by far." Zane looked amused and asked "Does it look like a M. C. Escher artwork? If so, it's going be interesting to meet 'Nameless Pharaoh'." Shadi turned to leave but stated "Your secrets are safe, Time traveler." With that he was gone.

"Just to be clear, was it Bakura, King of Thieves or Zorc Necrophades that you faced in a shadow dual?" Zane asked. Pegasus shrugged "I'm not sure. The little I could dig up about him concluded the ring contained a 'dark spirit'. My theory is that this dark spirit was created by Zorc, using the King of Thieves as a template, to ensure some plan, maybe resurrection so he can take over this world." Pegasus said. Zane snorted annoyed. "Makes when I slice up Zorc all the more fun." This got odd looks from Pegasus and his butler. "You are going to fill me in about Yugi Moto and his friends because I plan to visit him. I'd be a poor guest if I didn't know who I am visiting."

A few weeks later

World of Games

Domino City, Japan

Kame Game shop

Zane entered the small game shop, following the path the five cards with pulling him. The cards held the duel spirit of Exodia much stronger than any other of those cards. "Welcome to Kame Game Shop." A gray spiky haired short old man greeted working on straightening cards on display. "Well, I didn't expect the 'youthful' Solomon Moto opening a card shop after all the talk about how an 'old fossil' like me would retire from exploring tombs first." Zane snarked. Solomon looked at Zane shocked. "You don't look like you aged more than a few years and it's been decades." Solomon said as his grandson came back from school.

Yugi Moto was a short kid with the weirdest tricolored spiked hair. He wore a blue blazer and pants. Around his neck dangled a golden upside-down pyramid, the Millennium Puzzle. "Ah, Yugi. I'm proud to introduce an old friend, Zane Laskaris. This is my grandson, Yugi." Solomon said warmly. "Pegasus has told me a lot about you." Zane commented as Yugi stood guarded. "Yes, yes, 'Pegasus stole Solomon's soul' and all that rot. I'm friends with him but not that close for him to inform me he was messing with Shadow Magic after I repeatedly warned him." Zane said waving it off.

"Solomon, why were your Exodia cards in the middle of the sea?" Zane asked setting the cards on the glass top. "How did you find them? Joey dived in to look for them, but they were swept away." Yugi asked smelling the saltiness of the cards. "A dear friend of mine found them. I'm guessing a rival toss them to get an unhanded upper hand. No worries, they might smell like the sea, but they are back safe." Zane said.

"how is it that you are so youthful?" Solomon asked. "Time can be traversed in odd ways when you have gods aiding you. I warned you that going after the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh is inviting chaos. I see now that it was the only way to let the events of 3,000 years ago finally conclude with your grandson at the center of it all. Are you listening, Nameless Pharaoh?" Zane said the last part looking at the taller and older looking 'yugi ghost' standing next to Yugi. "How can you see him and what do you know about his past?" Yugi asked. The 'ghost' looked right at Zane, expecting answers.

"His 'soul room' looks like a booby-trapped M. C. Escher painting for very good reason. He must earn the answers with you and your friends aid. As the Greeks say, 'There is no such thing as Free Lunch'." Yugi and 'Yami Yugi' were confused as Solomon laughed. "I told you it sounds weird when it's not in Greek! What he means is everything has a price. Some costly and some are so cheap you don't even notice it." Solomon explained. "Do you think you could help me with something, Zane?" Solomon brought out his prized card, the fourth of four Blue Eyes White Dragon cards in the world. It was torn in half but taped together.

"That is an easy fix." Zane said, etching runes in the air as the card glowed. The runes hit the card. First the tape burned away, then the rip sealed itself, leaving a pristine intact card. "Magic? But how? You drew something in the air then it happened." Yugi said puzzled. "Learned from the best. He taught me a lot of things, runes, polearms and how to run like the hounds of hell were biting at your heels." Zane laughed. "His idea of Training is to make some beast chase you as you train your stamina. That crazy irish man got it from his teacher, who tested me by trying to kill me."

"The older ways are much deadlier than the present." Yami commented remembered a hazy memory from his past. Training so brutal, the few that survived it rose up the ranks quickly. It was a little out of context, but it felt like it was like what Zane was talking about. "You were made to last some hellish training methods." Solomon said thinking of the times Zane avoided traps in tombs. "I'd like to buy a Saint Joan card please." Zane said. Solomon got the card. It showed a short haired woman in gold trimmed silver armor with closed eyes and hands clasped on the hilt of her sword as if in prayer.

"Who is this for? I know you prefer to use the custom decks Pegasus made for you based on the information you told him. Your Heartless deck, that uses crafty tactics to get out hard to kill monsters, your Heroic Spirit deck, that has so many tricks it's like fighting every hero of legend, and your most dangerous deck, the Laskaris Deck." Solomon commented. "Grandpa, what is the Laskaris Deck?" Yugi asked.

"A Deck that hold the history of the Laskaris Clan in card form. He hasn't ever used it that I know of, but it was tailor made to match his clan's history." Solomon rings up the card and Zane took the card. "Wheeler's sister picked this card out of all them. I hope it will give her hope as her eyes heal." Zane said leaving the shop. "She picked a good card. Maybe she'll be a better duelist than her brother." Solomon joked.

Two days later

Domino City Museum

Egyptian exhibit

"You have five seconds to prove I'm not wasting my time." The razer shape voice of Seto Kaiba said as his white coat shifted mysteriously as he walked. Zane watched from the shadows, noting that his eyes showed 'worry' not for himself, most likely for his black puffy haired younger brother, Mokuba. Ishizu Ishtar, an Egyptian woman with her face in shadows of a hood, talked to Kaiba about his 'destiny' and how her Millennium Necklace let her view events that happened after its creation. She tried to sway Kaiba with a vision the dual between the Nameless Pharaoh and one of his Priests. It didn't work, so Zane stepped into the light saying, "Kaiba cares little about 'fate' and 'destiny', Tomb keeper."

Ishizu was annoyed because Zane was 'fuzzy' to her visions. "Kaiba, the only fate that you have other than dying is that you will dual Yugi Moto at some point in the future. It says nothing about when it happens or who will win. Besides you two are rivals and after the 'fated' dual happens, you can stop worrying about the tablet." Zane said rolling his eyes at her. Kaiba smirked "That I can get behind. Magic being real? Your daughter doing a White Lightning attack proved it's real. 'Fate'? If it's real, it can go die in a ditch because no one controls Seto Kaiba." He said smugly.

"Ishizu info dropped about the God Cards and what Pegasus unleashed by making them. She lied about where Ra was, but admitted her brother, Marik, had stolen Slifer. "What about the third one?" Kaiba asked. "You are going to use it to draw out my brother and his underlings, the Rare Hunters." She gives Kaiba Obelisk the Tormenter. "Do it by whatever means you think will work." Kaiba gazed at the god card that depicted an ogre like blue monster with thick muscles and a scary look on it's face.

"Zane, are you interested in being in a tournament? You might run into someone worth of facing your third deck." Kaiba asked. "You already had this planned before you came here, so I'll give it a shot." Zane said as Kaiba didn't try to deny the claim. "Make sure to pick up your Duel Disk at Kaiba Corp, they worked hard to translate the drawing Electra gave them yesterday." Kaiba said as they left the area.

The next day

World of Games

Domino city, Japan

Kaiba Corp HQ

Zane strapped flaming wing themed Duel Disk on his arm. The main part of it looked like the head of a bird with deck shot in the beck. "See Papa! I designed it for you all by myself." Electra said proudly, with a beaming smile. "You sure did." Mokuba said patting her head. "Where's the rest of the family?" he asked, his voice much more 'friendly' compare to his brother's. "Aqua got called to handle issues among the trainees. Sakura is staying at her boyfriend's house. If Shirou break her heart, I will break him! Not even being my apprentice will keep him safe!" Zane blazed as Mokuba looked confused. "Shirou is learning blacksmithing from Papa but he'll never be better than Papa." Electra said proudly.

"Ah. That makes sense. Does this happen a lot?" Mokuba asked. "Mama and Papa are very important, so they get called to do jobs out of nowhere at any time, even birthdays!" Electra said using childish logic. "Seto is like that sometimes, but I know he still cares." Mokuba stated. "Can I watch you duel Papa?" Electra asked, pleadingly. "Everyone but Aria had to stay home because it was too dangerous to bring them." Aria, who was acting like 'pet lizard' was napping around her neck. She'd keep her safe, and the Kaiba brothers were 'fans' of Aria.

"You can watch me duel in the tournament. If you do two things for me. Stay safe, and make sure to cheer for me. Can you do that for me, Princess?" Zane asked getting down two her level. Her hug was answer enough for him. "remember the new rules, Zane. I'd hate for you to be knocked out of the running because you forgotten the tribute summoning rules." Kaiba said from the doorway.

A week later

Domino City

First day of the Battle City Tournament

"Cu, Destory his monster the rest of his life points with your noble phantasm." Zane, wearing his armor, ordered as the card version of Lancer Cu used Gae Bolg. His opponent handed over a locater card and his rarest card. "hey Yug, shouldn't Defense Wall's effect made it the only target he could attack?" Joey Wheeler asked scratching his blonde-haired head. "Normally that would be true but Gae Bolg is 'Noble Phantasm' equip spell card that lets it bypass any and all effects that prevent it from destroying the targeted monster." Yami Yugi said. "It's based on the legendary weapon that pierced the target's heart without fail when thrown. I wonder what other legendary beings lurk in that deck."

"lots of them! Some pretty, some scary, and all armed to the teeth to take down anyone that dare take on Papa!" Electra told them as Zane carried her on his shoulders. They watched Zane walk away, before Joey commented, "So the weird bird knight with a powerful deck has a super fan daughter and close enough to Rich Boy to get a cool custom Dual Disk that matches his armor."

Yami Yugi noticed the Rare Hunters following Zane at a safe distance. Zane could handle them, so he didn't say anything.

Ten minutes later

In a back alloy

"Electra, stay close." Zane said as Rare Hunters cornered them. One of them had a glowing eye on his forehead. His voice was overlaid with someone else's "Greetings I am Marik Ishtar and I wish to discuss something." Zane didn't let up his guarded state. "What do you want to talk about?" The possessed goon's answer was unexpected. "What did Pegasus do with the paintings he made to make the god cards?" Zane knew the answer to this. "He gave them to me after he made the god cards. I sealed them in a vault and there they sit. A few weeks ago, I visited him, because he had been attacked, and asked about the gods cards. He said they safe, but we both know you have one." Zane said in half truths.

"And Seto Kaiba has another. I am still search for Ra. Do you have any desire for the God cards?" Zane laughed. "I warned him not make them in the first place, so the less I deal with them the better." Marik ordered his goons to scatter as Zane relaxed. "come on Princess, we've got more duels to see."

A day and half later

End of day two of the Battle City Tournament

Kaiba Dome

Zane was waiting with Electra and Bakura at the meeting spot the locater cards had told him to go. He had faced Zorc's evil puppet in a shadow duel, getting a chance to confirm it was indeed a puppet and not the real thing. Zorc was down a puppet and the soul of Bakura, King of Thieves, was in its place residing in the Ring. Bakura Ryou, the one wearing the Ring, was horrified to trade one ghost for another but the King of Thieves was very clear he was not evil. He was just a top-class thief with a habit of stabbing enemies from 3,000 years ago.

"So, you are telling me that you found all my stashes of loot, even the ones with deadly traps?" Bakura (King of Thieves) said impressed with Zane. "I'll just start new ones with my host's help." He shrugs as he cleans his nails with a stiletto. He and his host looked somewhat alike. Both had spikey hair but one white and his old counterpart gray. Ryou's skin was pale compared to dark skin of an Egyptian. Ryou just sighed in his mind as his body was being used again, but by a different ghost thankfully.

"This is the best knife I've ever had the chance to use. Who made it?" Bakura (King of Thieves) asked. "Papa made it. He's a master blacksmith and was trained by smith gods." Electra said. She wasn't sure if she should trust the weird ghost that looked like the one that tried to 'feed her to the shadows' but if Papa was this relaxed then she'd give him a chance. "Gods trained him. Well, that is a glowing endorsement, if I ever heard one." The thief said amused. He learned a lot of the modern lingo from his host's memories. All it took was a quick look to find the right words to blend in. A good Thief never stood out unless they had the skills to survive the spotlight, like that Lupin III fellow Zane told him about. That was a thief to grace the modern age!

"how long do we have to wait?" Bakura (King of Thieves) asked. "Not much longer." Zane said as People entered the stadium. The thief growled at the sight of Yugi and the Puzzle around his neck. "Calm down. The spirit of the puzzle has no idea how the Millennium Items were made. His memory is more holes than cheese for now, so he does even remember who his father was." Zane said. Forcing him not to move with just his voice. Bakura (King of Thieves) started laughing at the sad state his 'enemy' was in. "This is so priceless. He's got reverse swiss cheese memory and I can lord over him that I know more than he does. Thank you for pulling me out of the Shadow Realm and shoving me into this host."

"Bakura? What are you doing here?" Tea Gardner, the brown-haired girl that was 'interested' in Yugi, asked. "Why do you have the Ring? I threw that back at Duelist Kingdom." Tristian, a teen with a brown pointed pompadour hairstyle, said getting in front of Serenity, who pushed past them and bowed politely to Zane. "Thank you for getting me the card. She helped me find the courage to get my eyes fixed." She said as Zane noted her long auburn hair did indeed make her brown eyes 'shine'.

"The Dark Spirit of the Ring is gone. It lost a shadow game to me and got devoured utterly. Had to act fast and shoved a new soul into the Ring before anything bad happened with the unstable shadow magic it contained." Zane explained. Joey, who looked scuffed up, blinked. "So, the Ring needs a soul to keep it from exploding? What were they thinking when the made them?" Bakura (King of Thieves) had a snarky retort for that. "They were greedy fools who didn't care what the cost was." He looked at Yugi adding "You and the Pharaoh don't know how they did it, but I remember it crystal clear. Seeing you so confused makes my day, so my lips are sealed." He laughed as he let Bakura Ryou have his body back.

"Sorry about that guys, my new 'soul guest' is bitter about something that happened 3,000 years ago and refuses to let me know what it is." Ryou said sheathing the blade in too his boot. It fit the hidden sheath perfectly as the old blade did. "Dweeps, meet the first duelist to qualify for the finals. He did it yesterday but did duels for fun today, for some reason." Seto Kaiba explained. "Mr. Dragon is right. Papa was teaching duelist how to use the decks they had better after he got all the clear cards he needed." Electra said as Mokuba stifled a laugh at her nickname for his brother.

"If he was finalist, how did he get in a shadow game?" Joey asked. "The evil spirit attacked Pegasus, so I challenged him to get the Eye back." Zane said tossing Millennium Eye into the air. "there is more than one way to play a shadow game." They shivered involuntarily at the implications.

A few hours later

At ten thousand Feet in the sky

Kaiba Corp Dueling blimp

"you punished the thief and retrieved the eye." Shadi said, appearing out of nowhere as Zane looked out a window. "Here you go, even polished it for you." Zane said handing over the eye. The ghost took it gingerly. "Pegasus has declined getting back so it will be returned to its resting place." Shadi said then vanished. "That relic is still around?" Marik, the real one not servant impersonating him in the tournament, asked. He had spikey gray hair and dark skin with marks around his eyes. He had the Millennium Rod on his belt.

"He will be around until the Nameless Pharaoh departs for the afterlife. Your body double said he had Ra, is that true?" Zane asked. "Odion has a copy. Hopefully Ra will not strike him down like the test subjects were." Marik said. "Will Zane Laskaris report to the Duel Area within five minutes or be disqualified" The PA system played. "That's my call. I've got to face Mai Valentine." Zane said going to the elevator.

Ten minutes later

A top the Blimp

Zane was facing down a flied full of monsters. Mai, a blonde gifted with good looks as well as skill, had the upper hand with Harpy's pet dragon and a trap card. "It's time to show you why Arturia was called the undefeated king." Zane said. "You card might be strong but are you forgetting my Mirror Wall Trap card? The moment you attack her attack points will be halved." Mai reminded him. Zane smirked and said "I active the second effect of Hammer of the Wind King. By destroying it, I can find 'Excaliber, Sword of Promised Victory' from my deck and equip it to her." Zane explained as Saber Arturia grasped a golden sword and raised it aloft.

Golden particle surrounded the duel arena and flowed into the sword. "This new sword has a useful effect. Once per a turn and can skip my battle phase and destroy all cards on your side of the field, dealing 200 life point per a card." Zane said as Mai paled. She had six cards on her field and only 1,000 lift points left. "It's been fun but it's game over." Zane said as Saber Arturia swung her sword decaling its name. The dueling platform lowered as Zane was declared the winner.

"That stung to lose but you are as skilled as they say." Mai said, "Too bad I wasn't good enough for that third deck of yours." Electra ran up to the and climbed up Zane with practiced ease. "Don't be sad, Papa only uses that combo in tough spots." She said hanging off Zane with a hug. "Well, can't argue with the princess, now can I?" Mai said amused. Electra has this cheerfulness chased away sadness. "See Papa, I told you she was strong." Electra babbled "I told Papa you are too good for the Heartless Deck, that one is for fun duels. The Hero Deck is to test your metal in battle!"

"And what about the third one, little missy?" Joey asked very interested. "It's the Laskaris Clan in card form. It is saved for the most serious of duels. Any less would shame us." Electra said cutely imitating Zane. "He takes great pride in his family, Wheeler. I know what cards are in it but not how they relate to his family history." Kaiba said as Odion and Joey got ready to duel.

The duel was going well for everyone until the dark-skinned shaved head man, with a Tattoo on his face that looked painful to get, played the fake Ra card. The real god card glowed, reveling Zane had it, and lightning rained down as the image of Ra bellowed his rage. Odion was struck, burning the fake card as a bonus, and he fell. Marik was having a mental breakdown, and Electra got struck seven times. "She's going to be so hyper." Zane groaned as Electra glowed with energy and vibrated on the spot.

"Dude, your little girl got hit with lightning and you are even a bit worried?" Tistan asked angry. Duke Devlin, a black-haired teen that created a dice-based game, pointed at Electra and said "She looks like the energizer bunny after getting an overcharge. She's perfectly unharmed. Joey is the one that we need to worry about." Duke was right, Joey was on the ground but not out cold. "Contestant Joey Wheeler is winner by default." The judge said as the arena lowered. Zane jumped into action.

"What is Zane doing?" Serenity said as Kaiba kept them from running to Joey. "Magic." Kaiba stated as Zane checked Joey over. They look at him shocked. "You believe in magic now?" Yami asked. "Met a real-life Dragon and a Princess that can do a 'White Lightning' Attack. Seeing is Believing." Kaiba said in an amused way. "That little Princess?" Mai asked still wrapping her mind around magic being real.

"So that's where Ra was." A vile twisted voice said as Marik's hair was spikier and his calm face was twisted in madness. "Pegasus may have entrusted it to you, but I will have it!" Yami Marik, his repressed negativity give form, said. "Oh, shove it you, mad wacko." Bakura (King of Thieves) said with a long dagger in hand. "Zane knew about your existence from Marik's sister and you don't even have a god card anymore. You lost it to the Pharaoh, like a greenhorn thief." Bakura (King of Thieves) roasted countering the mental attack from the Millennium Rod with his Ring. Yami Marik stormed off swearing revenge. "Wheeler is alive, but his nerves are shorted out." Zane said as Medics lifted Joey on a stretcher. "Odion is alive as well, but he's not walking up for at least a week. Ra was not happy with him."

"Good, we will continue the tournament." Kaiba said dragging Zane away to have a 'chat'.

Ten minutes later

Onboard the Blimp

Computer room

"Were you going to tell me that you had the third God card or was it another secret that would have never seen the light of day?" Kaiba asked. "I was going to tell you but he's a mind reader so, you understand." Zane said. The Kaiba brother understood why mind readers were his reason for not telling them. "Big Brother, he did let me scan the card." Mokuba said. "What do you know about the god card?" Kaiba asked. "Ra has plenty of abilities that I've figured out. Here's a flash drive that will tell you everything I've figured out." Zane gave Mokuba the flash drive. "I will find a way to defeat Ra." Kaiba said as Zane left.

A few days later

Onboard the blimp

Dueling arena

Zane had let Electra show off her magic to unwind and they didn't think she was a helpless little girl anymore. Currently Zane was facing Yami Marik in the final match before they reach the site of the final duels. Yami Marik had made it a shadow game to 'torture' Zane with 'past pains' by it was working like he hoped. "I tribute my three monsters to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra." Zane said a metal orb appeared on the field. "Fool! Without the chant Ra is useless!" Yami Marik said amused, His good mood was dashed when Zane chanted in ancient Egyptian. It translated to this: 'Almighty protector of the sun and sky, I beg of thee, please heed my cry. Transform thyself from orb of light and bring me victory in this fight. I beseech thee, grace our humble game. But first I shall...call out thy name, Winged Dragon of Ra!'

The orb unfolded as Ra roared a cry that sounded like a cross between a dragon and bird. "Impossible! How can you read the ancient text?" Yami Marik raged as Zane ended his turn. Yami Marik was quite irate as the duel continued. "How are you not in crippling pain? Every monster that when to the grave forced you to experience a painful memory. Yet you stand like it's nothing." Yami Marik raged. "oh, it's working. I'm just really angry right now." Zane said in a harsh voice. "I don't like being reminded of those things. I'll wrap this up and deal with you at the same time." Zane ordered to attack. "Ignite your mighty blaze cannon and cleanse him of his unwanted darkness!" Yami Marik screamed as Ra's attack burned him out of the body.

"Zane wins!" The judge said calling medics. Ishizu ran up to her brother as Marik groaned. "Yami marik is gone for good." Zane said kindly but sheepishly, "but I had to cook him to do it. I hope you don't mind a little sun burnt brother." Ishizu chuckled a little at the joke. "As long as he's alive and safe I don't mind."

Mokuba took charge saying, "The final four are decided. Yugi Moto, Joey Wheeler, Seto Kaiba, and Zane Laskaris. The finals will take place at our destination. Please rest up and enjoy the rest of the trip."

An hour later

In Zane and Electra's room on the blimp

Zane looked up as Tea walk in, but Tea was not in control. "I would like to apologize for what my darker half pulled." Marik said using Tea. "I would tell you in person, but my body got a little charred by Ra, so I'm barrowing her body with permission." Electra giggled, "Papa, can I call him toasty?" She joked as Marik groaned. His sister had called him that not ten minutes ago, it was worse that a little girl did it this time. "just this once, Princess." Zane allowed as the blimp lurked out of nowhere. "Attraction all passengers. The Blimp controls are unresponsive that we are being taken hostage by an unknown source. Please remain calm as we resolve the issue." The PA said.

"That is utterly too calm sounding. Where does Kaiba find employees like that?" Marik said in disbelief. "Mokuba has been kidnapped too many times for them to stress out too much over things like this. All he needs to do is find out who they are and what they want. Then he will resolve the issue to his liking." Zane said as calm as an afternoon tea party. They felt the blimp getting lower as Electra looked out a window. "Papa, there's a secret lair under us." She said and they looked to see a high-tech base, hidden from view, letting them enter it.

"Ten bucks says it's because of Kaiba that this is happening." Zane says. "That is a sucker bet. His father had a lot of enemies with the weapon production he had. Kaiba may have shut it down but it's coming back to haunt him." Marik said. "Welcome to my home." A young male voice said over the PA. "Would the following people leave the blimp." Among the people not listed was Marik, his sister, Bakura, and Electra. "Princess, go find Bakura and stay with him until I'm back." He said to her and left the blimp as requested.

A few minutes later

Virtual world on the base

Copy of the Realm of Darkness

Zane and the others had been put in pods as their minds were trapped in VR by robots. Zane was the only one not knocked out first, but he got in his pod when prompted. The Big Five, ex-Kaiba Corp big wings that got too greedy and were fired, wanted new bodies after getting trap in cyber space. Their plan, they doubt it was theirs in the first place, duel someone with the body being the prize. They explained the 'Deck Master' rules then scattered everyone.

"BRAT! I know you're watching!" Zane yelled. The same voice from the PA answered, "Yes I am, do have a question? I might answer it." Zane smirked "The Big Five are your pawns. That is a fact. But You are much more interesting. How did you recreate this place so well?" Zane asked as the oppressive air of this place almost made him doubt it was VR. "Unlike the other places, this was much harder make, even with the data I gleamed from Seto's database. I have to ask, what is this place to you for your memory of it to be so strong it vastly improved the recreation?"

Zane ran his hand over the rock he sat on. "This was my 'hell' for a few years. I explored the depths of it and made myself high on its food chain." Zane said as 'VR' Neo-shadows lurked out of sight, not wanting to cross him. "That would explain why you aren't being attacked. You and I have something in common, trapped with few means of escaping. I look forward to when we meet in person." The voice said.

Out of the woodwork came not native 'VR' monsters. Zane got up and did some warm of stretches. "This will be fun." Zane commented as the humanoid monsters armed to the teeth with claws, fangs and enough manmade weapons. Technically Zane was a monster card, because he had card based on him, so he had the chance to fight his way through the army. He spotted a spear held by one of the mob of monsters. He rushed the beast man and destroyed it with a punch, grabbing the spear and tearing into the mob with ferocity Cu would be proud of.

Elsewhere in the VR world

Forest

"I'm betting that Zane is having the time of his life right now." Kaiba said as he and Mokuba walked an endless forest. "And what kind of fun is he having, Seto?" Mokuba asked. "Fighting Duel monsters head on. If they have the complete list of Cards that are publicly known, then Zane is among them. And because he's a 'monster card' he can have the time of his life. It's wonderful for him but we are stuck in some VR forest in the meantime." Kaiba ranted. He figured it was (extremely life like) VR when a rock monster, giant solider of stone, got up and walked away five minutes ago.

"hey, Seto, there's a door!" Mokuba said pointing to a door, standing in a clearing with out walls. Kaiba throw a rock at it and nothing happened. "Open it but don't enter yet. There could be traps." Kaiba warned. Mokuba opened the door saw a younger Zane talking to his Father. "I met someone interesting on my trip. Can you guess who?" He said opening a well-traveled trunk. Young Zane's grin was full of life. "Did you meet royalty in Japan?" Young Zane asked.

Zane's father laughed. "Not quite but I did get to have tea with a Japanese crime boss. He mistaken me for someone else and had be 'invited' to have tea with him. When he learned he got the wrong person he gave me gift to save his honor." Zane's father showed his son a set of tools and scroll. "What's this?" Young Zane asked. "This is a traditional tea ceremony set. It's everything you need to make tea in a formal way. There's also a tea set with it but it's wrapped up tight, so it doesn't break."

The door slammed shut and vanished. "that was too real to be fake." Mokuba said. "They're using our memories to make it more real." Kaiba said realizing that the Big Five was not the mastermind. It would take someone like his adopted father, Gozaburo Kaiba, to make something of this level. "Hey Seto, do you think Zane still has the tea set?" Mokuba asked. "Without a doubt. He's got a lot of stuff his father collected before he died." Kaiba said as they looked for a way out.

A few hours later

VR World

City

"Can this rust but go any faster!" Joey yelled as Duke floored it. The gang had fought the Big Five but had lost Tristan's body, his mind was in a robot monkey for now. The reason why they were flooring it in a pickup truck was the fact that they were being chased by dual monsters. "I'm going as fast as I can!" Duke yelled back as the riders in back were throw about with each bump. "We still need to find Zane! Then We can regroup with Kaiba and hopefully he saved Mokuba by then." Yugi said.

Serenity looked back and blinked. "Guy do you hear that?" She asked. "The shattering noises. Yeah, but it probably just the road cracking from the missed attacks." (Monkey)Tristan said. "No, it's getting louder and sounds just like when a monster is destroyed." She says sure of herself. The truck flipped on its side. Everyone climbed out, ready to make a final stand. "Is it just me or the monsters not chasing us amore?" Tea asked.

"It looks like they turned around." Mei said as something was tearing through the horde of monsters. Explosions rung out as monsters were thrown skyward. The horde was no longer trying to fight, but to flee as spears, axes, and other weapons impaled them. "I hope they're on our side." Duke said as an armored figure with a few weapons on his person dashed their way.

"That was fun. How are you doing, guys?" Zane asked stopping a few feet short of them. "ZANE?" They shouted. "In the digital flesh." Zane smirked taking his helmet off. "I haven't had this much of rush in while. It great to cut loose and have a friendly battle with a horde of monsters." They disagreed with his statement. Next to his body was the name 'Battle Master Zane Laskaris' and battle stats 'Attack: 7000, Defense: 5000'. "You have card based on you?" Joey asked catching on. "Duh, what do you think my third deck is based on? If it's based on my Clan and its members then it must include me." Zane said.

"Kaiba chased after Tristan's body, who kidnapped Mokuba." Yugi explained. Zane nodded and righted the truck one handed. "Go after him, I'll meet you there." He said as he jumped on to a Curse of Dragon monster that forced it to obey him. "He's riding a dragon like it's a wild horse. He's completely insane." Mei stated as they watched him fly away. "We need to get a move on." (monkey) Tristan reminded them as Serenity carried his robot body in her arms.

An hour later

VR World

Wastelands

Zane was having the time of his life as he blasted armies of Duel Monsters out of skies. The giant mustached and glaring face of Gozaburo Kaiba made it better. After all Zane was screwing with his plan. Everything his mount was destroyed he grabbed another. His Life point were fine because, it wasn't like it was 'his' monster. "You are becoming a throne in my side." Gozaburo said grinding his digitized teeth. "I'm not the one that's using their children like pawns! Noah is your Biological son and the brothers were adopted by you!" Zane shot back. The terrain was changing as Noah dueled Yami Yugi, who stepped in when Kaiba got stoned by Noah, nearby. "They are means to an end, nothing more." The scumbag of a father said. "Samuel! Change his classification to a dual monster!" Zane ordered as the A.I. Hacked the system. When Zane saw it was finished, he threw the equip card version his magic axe and the scumbag was deleted. His memory was stored just in case he needed it.

Zane's mount, a Blue Eyes White Dragon, turned and Zane saw Noah getting defeated. "come on, girl. I need to get over there." Zane said asked the Dragon, who flew off as requested. He jumped off the dragon just in time to intercept the green haired kid's attempt at body stealing. It was a weird three-way memory sharing experience. Zane, Noah, and Yami Yugi were thrown apart, dazed. "That was a bad idea" Zane said as a brief but intense headache spiked painfully as the memories he got were sorted.

"How did you reject my mind?" Noah asked staring at them. He saw glimpses of Yami Yugi's past, but it was Zane's that rattled him. So much rage, so much blood. It was like seeing a beast lurking under the tranquil waters of a lake. A beast that killed his father, who from what heard in the memories, never loved him. He returned everyone to normal as he sat on the ground, lost. Kaiba blinked then looked at the Blues Eyes Zane jumped from. "I see you've got style." He said with a smug smirk. The Blue Eyes mirrored his smugness.

"Your dead dad was dead but now is." Zane told the Kaiba brothers. "He's right. He deleted that man who was our father." Noah said. "I saw it too. All though I wouldn't call him a father after what he said." Yami Yugi said glad he finally remembered the name and face of his father. It was among the handful of names and faces that were jogged from the 'experience' he had. He had a better idea who Zane was, and his Laskaris Deck was making sense now, at least a little.

"Sir, I can eject you from this place at any time." A giant burning skull said as it hovered next to Zane. "Guys, meet Samuel." Zane said. "He's hijacked the system and linked it with other systems I told him to." He got blank looks from the non tech savvy people. "Noah isn't trapped in this world anymore. He can semi freely move from here to outside systems and back. I'll work on getting him a body later."

"Can you explain why you were fight the monsters inserted of summoning one of your own to fight them?" Duke asked. "Why would he miss the chance to be a one-man army killer? It's like telling me I need to go to a meeting in person when I can be riding in my Blue Eyes White Jet and so the meeting." Kaiba asked like it was completely normal. "Noah, we'll have a long talk about where we stand." Kaiba said, for Mokuba's sake, not because he cared about Noah.

An Hour later

Alcatraz Island (Yes it named after the real-life place)

"Welcome to the sight of the finals. This island was a base that was used for war, I made it into art." Zane explained gesturing to the towering life size statues of Duel monsters around the spire in the center of the island. "Each one was made from decommissioned weapons and vehicles Kaiba Corp no longer makes. All dangerous elements were removed and taken care of properly." Zane smiled as they look on in awe. "When did you do all this?" Bakura Ryou asked. "Not too long ago. Kaiba wanted the Dual Tower to look nice but that was a junkpile of eyesores around it. I worked for two weeks straight to make this art." Zane said "dealing with metal is easier than painting for me. That hardest part was cooling it just right."

"Any reason why Rich Boy's Ace Card isn't hogging the spotlight?" Joey asked, "you'll see soon enough." Zane said as they got closer. In about five minutes they got to the base of the spire, low and behold, Blue Eyes White Dragon was standing by the entrance. "Oh, that's the coolest guard dog ever." Mei admitted as they were scanned. "You can't get in without being scanned first." Zane said as they entered the spire.

An hour later

A top the Dual Tower

Zane had beaten Joey and was watching Yami Yugi and Kaiba duel for that chance to face him. Kaiba went as far as projecting a coliseum full of people around the arena. The final three matches were being broadcast live, so Zane decided he'd be using the Laskaris Deck when he dueled for the prize. Kaiba lost and Zane could feel his frustration from here. "Next time I will beat you." Kaiba said as he stormed off. "I'll be waiting for you to try, Kaiba." Yami Yugi said.

After a ten-minute break the final match was underway. Zane had his own idea for setting the mood as a structure start from the first Olympics was projected full of people from all ages and places. In the top box was a hologram of Hestia. "This will be the first official duel I've used the Laskaris Deck for." Zane said as they met in the middle to shuffle each other's decks. "It's an honor to be worthy enough to face it." Yami Yugi said.

"I'll start by summoning Clan Founder Barak Laskaris in attack mode!" The founder appeared in his Hearth leader Garb and bowed the Hestia in the top box. "You're thinking 'how can the founder be only a four-star monster?', Right? He was the first of her children, but it was his descendants that raise to even great higher than he ever did." Zane said as he activated a field spell 'Sacred Hearth of Hestia'. Behind Zane a fire bloomed into life. "This card grants my Laskaris monsters with five-hundred-point boost in both stats and can't be affected by spell trap or monster effect as long as a Laskaris monster is on the field. It has more effects, but you'll have to wait and see."

Elsewhere

World of Games

Domino City

Kami Game Shop

"Incredible. It looks just as those scrolls that I looked at described." Arthur Hawkins said as he was the TV with his old friend, Solomon Moto and his nine-year-old genius (and dueling champ) granddaughter, Rebecca Hawkins. The blonde-haired pigtailed girl held her teddy watching the dual with great interest. This was the deck her Grandfather talked about so much. Based on a clan that was a ghost but there was scrolls that detailed its hidden history, if you asked the right person.

"I'm afraid my grandson will be hard pressed to win this duel." Solomon said. "This deck is powerful when played right." Rebecca clutched her teddy as she said, "And Zane knows the deck better than Pegasus, who created the cards." As the duel progressed, there was moments where Yugi was sure to lose but he survived the turn. It was nail biter to the very end. After a half an hour-long tense duel, Yugi won with 50 life points left.

All around the world people cheered as Yugi was crowned the winner. Solomon cheered too hard and had to go to the hospital after he did something to his back. All in all, things were going well.

On the way back

Duel Blimp

Zane looked at the tattoo on Marik's back and translated what it said, because Yami Yugi still didn't remember how to read it. "Show the god cards to the slab at the time of the final duel and the door to the afterlife will open. Problem is that your memories is still swiss cheese and you need all of the memories." Marik groaned. "You mean to tell me that I got this thing painfully put on my back for a pharaoh who can't really use it yet?" He asked annoyed. "worst case, you can say you've got a badass tattoo." Zane commented as Yami Yugi gave Ra back. "Ra wishes to stay with you until I need it." This time Zane groaned "I blame my bird form for Ra wanting to stick with me." Zane said taking the god card back.

"I'm going on a nice relaxing break after this." Zane said, "No shadow magic at all!" He left the room as Ishizu said to her brother "It is unlikely he will get his wish. My Necklace showed me several ways trouble finds him in the next week. Some of them mystical in nature, but it is unclear because of Zane being 'fuzzy' to the Items." Marik laughed, a genuine laugh without malice. This was the sound Odion woke up to. "Master Marik?" Odion asked sitting up. "He is fine. He was just told something amusing." Ishizu said with a smile.

A few days later

Somewhere out to sea

An unnamed Island

(Future home of Duel Academy)

Zane was relaxing on the island that Kaiba bought to build a dueling school on top of a tomb that contain dangerous Duel Monster Cards, you'd think, that Pegasus was the first to make Duel Monster cards but at some point in the past, the Sacred Beasts were turned into cards, then sealed up tight. Workers were already planning where to dig. Zane and Electra were in a remote area of the island, where it was nice and peaceful. A flying ball of brown hair with big eyes and claws, a Kuriboh, floated by and Electra jumped, clinging to duel spirit as it vanished into a spirit portal. "Ok, I don't know how, but place has a spirit portal." Zane said as Electra was 'kidnapped' by Duel spirits. Zane jumped into the portal.

Duel Spirit world

Atlantean Kingdom

Zane landed in a fantasy castle, greeted by the Dark Magician Girl. "Have you seen a little girl with a dragon?" Zane asked. DMG giggled. "she's safe. Kaibaman is keeping an eye on her in case she runs into the nastier duel spirits." Zane groaned "Kaiba made a card after himself? Why not. I'm making this my vacation location." Zane declared as the duel spirits bowed to him. "We are more than welcome to let you stay for a long as you wish." DMG said. "Battle Master Zane, it's good to see you again!" A knight in blue armor that looked at sounded like Kaiba if he lived ten thousand years ago. "Sir Critias, this the first time we've really met." Zane reminded the knight. "Yes, your spirit was summoned to inhabit an armor puppet." Sir Hermos, a red armored knight from the same time period as Critias, but looked and sounded like Joey Wheeler, said smirking about something. "Sir Timaeus has something you will want to see." Sir Hermos said and Zane followed them to the armory.

In the Armory

Zane saw the light blue armored knight who looked and sounded like the nameless Pharaoh (Zane knew his name, but it was sealed, meaning he couldn't say it, write it or anything.). He was polishing was amounted to a ten-thousand-year-old magitech Armored puppet. Shoved a soul into it and you have an expendable solider. If it breaks, the soul remains unharmed and free. This one was battered and dinged but intact. "Greetings brother." The armor said in a tinny voice. "It's good to see you, my ghost in the shell." Zane greeted his 'twin'. Because Zane's puppet was never broken over the course of the Atlantean War, Zane's spirit was returned to the present time, but a shadow was left in the puppet. A shadow of his soul, a ghost in the shell if you will. This was the Iron Ghost of Laskaris, a member of the Laskaris Deck.

"We have maintained him for ten thousand years and will continue to do so." Sir Timaeus said, proud of his work. "It's been less than a decade for me. I remember the day well. I was relaxing after a stressful day and fell asleep for few hours. But in those few hours I fought in a ten-year war ten thousand years ago and got back like it was just a dream." Zane said amused. The knights chuckle at this. "Many of the other unwilling spirits called it a nightmare, but you called it a warrior's dream. That's why you became the commander of 'magictech' unit as you called it." Sir Critias said a guard ran in yelling "Kaibaman is showing off again! There are multiple White Lightning attacks being fired at the clouds and a storm is brewing."

"Must he do this nonsense again?" Sir Hermos asked rhetorically. "I swear he loves to show off how powerful his Blue Eyes are so much he causes more storms than any other reason they happen." Sir Hermos grumbled as he left that armory to look out the nearest window. He returned quickly, asking "Is there anyone visiting that can copy a Blue Eyes?" Zane started laughing and they look at him. "My daughter, Electra learned how to do that not too long ago!" Zane said leaning on his 'twin' for support as laughter shook him. The knights groaned at this.

"We made a bet with someone about your children being able to cause trouble within a week of visiting the spirit world. They bet within the first day." Sir Timaeus said. "We weren't thinking clearly at the time because of the partying after the war ten thousand years ago and it seemed like a good idea at the time..." The knight trailed off. "What did you bet?" The Ghost asked for Zane who was laughing too much to ask himself. "a small sum of coin that has been increasing over time each year." Sir Critias admitted "The Vampire Lord and Lady were just as 'foggy minded' as we were so they barely remember made the bet until it came up in the meeting about the God Cards being created in the human realm years ago." Sir Critias gets out a roll of parchment, ink well, and quill pen. He drafts a letter then seals it with wax, after rolling it up. "I will have the fastest messenger bird available take to them." He leaves to do as such.

An hour later

Duel Spirit World

Harpy Territory

Skull Red Bird, a medium sized bird with feather of darker reds and a spiked collar around its neck, squawked in alarm as Harpies cut off his flight path. He was thrown into a cage and taken to their Queen. "You must carry something important to cross my kingdom." The flowing green haired harpy said tapping her talons on the cage as the bird shivered in fear. His hidden knives were useless. "Please your highness. I need to reach the Vampire Lord's castle at once!" Skull Red Bird said as the Harpy Queen's predatory gaze changed to one of curiosity.

"You clearly have no idea what the Knights wrote in the letter, so, I could let you off this once." Harpy Queen said spinning the key in his view, to make him squirm. "I can tell the Honored Knights you are coming for a visit?" Skull Red Bird offered, and the Harpy Queen's grin told him he said the right thing. "Off you go. Fly swifter than the wind." She said opening the cage and watched as the Skull Red Bird fled at top speeds. "My Queen, what shall we do?" A pink long-haired harpy, Airo, asked. "I can get a hunting party ready in a wing's beat." A red short haired harpy, Ocupete, added. The third of the harpy sisters, a spiky blue haired harpy, Keraino, had a different opinion. "Sisters, the queen has a plan already." The Harpy Queen smiled kindly at the three sisters. "We will wait for him to return to the Knights and then we will drop by before they have chance to plan anything. I do enjoy 'throwing a wrench into plans' as the gearheads (The machine empire) say." She titters into her arm wing as the sisters copy her.

The good mood was sored when a Sky Scout, a masked edgy looking winged beast monster, reported the Harpy Queen's daughter, Princess Aella, had disappeared with her pet Harpies Baby Pet Dragon in tow at same time as the trespassing bird been rounded up. "on one claw I should be cross with her running away. But on the other claw, I pulled some stunts like this in my first five hundred years of life too." The Harpy Queen said. The Sky Scout was sweating like crazy, because he'd be punished for failing to stop the princess from leaving.

"You, Scout, don't care what your name is. You will hunt for my dinner as punishment, alone." The Harpy Queen said as the Harpy sister grin evilly at the male. In the Harpy society, females ruled over males, but weren't completely unfair to them. They just took great pleasure in punish them when they screwed up. "Yes, my Queen. I will find you the juiciest pray in the hour." The Scout said flew off, dreading the prospect of hunting alone.

"My Queen, do you have an idea where she is headed?" Airo asked. "The Atlantean kingdom most likely. Aella has expressed the desire to see why we are allied with them for herself for some time. She was not around when my late Mother fought in the Atlantean War. Shame she never got to see the end of it." The Harpy Queen said airily as she lounged on her throne. She had cut a deal of sorts after her mother died. The harpy queens and their heirs were granted limited immortality, time or sickness will not kill them but being slain will, a fair trade to ensure the Harpies had a ruler.

"My Queen, you must see this." A light blue haired black winged harpy said as she carried blue crystal orb with two smaller orbs on a ring around it. "Oracle, what news do you bring me?" The Harpy Queen said annoyed. "He is here." She said and the Harpy Queen greedily stared into the crystal. "It's finally him!" She squealed with glee as the crystal showed Zane talking to the Legendary Knights. "He promised to find me, and he did." She blinked as Electra came into view. "She doesn't look like how he described Sakura. Must be another chick he had. I can't wait to meet her!" The Harpy Queen said with glee. The Harpy sisters were confused at her shift in personality and watched as she roused her pet dragon and taking off on his back.

"Do we stay?" Ocupete asked baffled. "You are the elite of our forces and in charge while the queen is away." The Oracle reminded them calmly. "May we know why she acted as she did?" Airo asked. "When Queen Rose was just a chick, she snuck into the 'magitech' units camp to see what the big fuss was. That was where she met Battle Master Zane, well his spirit inhabiting one of the 'Magitech' puppets." The Harpy sisters gasp as they heard the name of the war hero who the Queen spoke of in the highest honor. Just like how all the feathered kind looked up to Alector, Sovereign of Birds, for looking out for them when needed.

"And so, after ten thousand years, she gets to meet the one who fought alongside her mother as an equal." The Oracle explained.

Elsewhere

Duel Spirit World

Vampire Kingdom

Skull Red Bird crashed into a wall as he dodged the Zombie Werewolf's claws. "Message for Vampire Lord and Lady." He said dizzily. "Well, this is not the kind of intruder I was expecting." The smooth voice of the Vampire Lord said as he took the scroll tube from the bird, not caring to help it or than to tell the beast not to attack. "Dear, what does it say?" Vampire Lady said with a naturally seductive voice. The Undead Lord's brows shot up as he read the letter. "We won the bet from ten thousand years ago." He pauses to calculate the interest. "We are will need more than a sack to carry all of it back." He said with a chuckle. "Shall we depart, my love?" Vampire Lady said as her husband kissed her lovingly.

"Return to inform the Atlantean Kingdom we are coming in a few days." Vampire Lord told Skull Red Bird. The poor bird could only nod and shakily take off. He really didn't like the gloomy atmosphere of the eternally night and dead land. Even the trees are undead around here. Skull Red Bird dodged the clawing grasping branches as he headed for the sunlit lands up ahead.

Twenty minutes earlier

the Atlantean kingdom

In the castle gardens

Electra was poking a Marshmallon, a white squishy blub of a monster with a deceptively cute face that him the dangerously sharp teeth in its mouth. "I wouldn't do that." A young voice said from the air. Electra looked up to see a Harpy that looked just like the Harpy Queen but much younger, she looked to be ten years old physically. Next to her was a red dragon, a little bigger than her, wearing a green metal head piece and a collar with a chain attached to it. "It may be cute, but it will bite you." Aella warned as the Marshmallon blow a raspberry and hopped away.

The Harpy and Dragon duo land as Electra pouted. "Now who will play with me?" Electra asked. "Everyone one is busy preparing for the Vampire Lord and Lady. Kaibaman is sitting in a cell to 'cool off' after he started a storm when he showed me how powerful his dragons are." Electra crossed her arms annoyed. "I can play with you. Maybe I'll find out why the kingdom is a superpower." Aella said as the chain in her hand jangled. "Does he need to be on leash?" Electra asked. "Yup! Otherwise he'd get into trouble he's only a baby." Aella said but gets dragged away when the dragon chases after dog sized butterfly.

An hour later

Atlantean kingdom

A field of flowers just outside the castle

Aella froze as she heard a roar getting closer. "Ah oh, Mother found me." She said as Electra held a flower crown. "Maybe if you explain it won't as bad?" Electra asked. "I'm the hair to the throne. 'You must stay safe at all times'" Aella imitates what she gets told time and time again. "It's so annoying. I'm 200 years old, not a chick who can't fly without injury!" Aella huffed. The grown-up version of her pet dragon landed not far from them as Queen Rose jump of the dragons back.

"I see you found a friend, Aella." Queen Rose said as her daughter glared back. "I'm not going back!" She stated. Harpy's Pet Dragon toppled her with a blast of smoke and air from his nostrils. "Be nice!" Electra demanded as she scolded Harpy's Pet Dragon. The Dragon had no idea how to react, so he turns to his master the Harpy Queen for guidance. Queen Rose tittered at the confounded expression on her fearsome pet. She leaned to look at Electra and asked, "Are you Zane's chick? What's your name?" Electra nodded "I'm Electra. If I give this flower crown, will you give Aella a break?" She holds up the flower crown for the queen to see. Queen Rose took it and put on saying, "It's fine. She isn't in too much trouble. Where is your father?" Electra points to the castle. Queen Rose pats her on the head and flies off telling her pet to keep an eye of them.

"See, it worked out!" Electra said beaming. "But now we've got a big grump of a dragon watching us. He's no fun and his chains make too much noise." Aella complained. the thick chain links jangled loudly as the beast laid down. The girls got an idea and grinned at each other. The Field they were in had 'unlimited flowers' because of a spell cast by someone who needed to work on not being distracted when casting. In less than an hour, stating with a sleeping sleep from Electra, they wove flowers all over the dragon's limbs.

Inside the castle

In the west tower

Zane chuckled. "Rose, they made your dragon look like a flower garden." He said. She looks out the window and laughs too. "He's too loyal to get angry at them." She says before looking at Zane, memorizing his face. "Do you remember your promise?" Zane nodded and pulled out Margret and started to play it, making a haunting melody that the 'magitech' puppet claws couldn't do. Queen Rose wasn't the only one that paused as the melody drifted around the castle. For five spellbound minutes, everyone in the castle, and even as far as the field of flowers, just listened and let the worries tach a backseat.

"was it worth the wait?" Zane asked. "More than words could describe." Queen Rose said. The promise was to hear him play, but the puppet was made for war, not playing instruments. Singing didn't work ether because of the tininess the puppet gave the voice of the spirit inhabiting it. "So, you are the one playing. Can't say I'm surprised; you humans have talent to pull things like that." A wizened old man, in armor like the Dark Magician but he carried a gnarled staff with magic stones set in it, Dark Sage, wheezed. Zane couldn't see his eyes but the glowing orbs he did see conveyed deep wisdom. "I was studying scroll in my SOUND PROOFED laboratory when your music made me pause and listen." Zane could hear the amusement and annoyance tinting his aged voice.

"Margert wants to be heard and she will make it so." Zane said half joked. "yes, magical tools will do what they want after so many years of use, no matter how much you don't want them to." Dark Sage grumbled. "I dare say the deaf heard it. Maybe even the dead. That instrument has soaked up some exotic energies from what I can tell. It's 'alive' and very smug." He finished sharping as Margert had a faint aura of smugness that was barely there.

"I've had Margret for a long time, and she's earned the right to be smug." Zane said patting the neck of the guitar. "I swear you lot are chaos magnets." Dark Sage grumbled (He's referring to humans in general) as he teleported out of the tower. Zane sat by the window as the sun dipped in the sky. "The Vampires will be here in a few hours." Queen Rose said as she spied her flower adorned pet herding the children back the castle. "Tell me about your family." She requested. And so, Zane explained things.

An hour later

"Your eldest chick has grown up into a woman lots of males would flock to, why settle for that male as her mate?" Queen Rose asked looking at a photo of Sakura and Shirou on a date. "Not sure why but she saw something in him that just 'clicked'. He didn't get stuck in cursed fire like his many other alternate selves did. He's got an eye for detail with crafting things." Zane rambled. "He was adopted by an assassin, his homunculus/wishing devise wife and has homunculus aunts and a half homunculus older sister." Zane said as Queen Rose laughed at him. "Did I mention he has a little sister that was cloned from his adopted father?"

Queen Rose spelled it out for him. "She inspected everything about him and found him the desirable mate. Strong body, mind, and a dependable family to add to her own. I don't know much about your human mate standards, but it seems clear cut to me. How did he react to her true 'figure'?" Queen Rose asked. Sakura had taken to 'reducing her figure' with shapeshifting after it got to be a hindrance. She had tried to date few boys before Shirou but Zane had to put them six feet under after they reacted poorly to the 'truth'. "He was blushing so hard, but he didn't too long." Zane paused the added "He did faint when Irisviel, his adopted mother, told him she wanted 'grandbabies' and not to screw this up." Zane and Queen Rose laughed picturing it perfectly.

"You gave better advice than a love goddess did." Zane said. "She was all cryptic saying, 'trust me, she will find a keeper'. That's what I get for asking someone who treats a man's heart like an interesting toy. Lady Titania gave me a shovel! No advice, just a something to use when nasty choices try to use my daughters." Zane ranted, not noticing the Legendary Knights and Vampire Lady listening in on the conversation. "It was a useful tool. Those mafia humans even gave you a place to hide the bodies." Queen Rose said cheerfully.

The door to the tower fell in as the knights tumbled into the room. "I find your method of dealing with unwanted suiter to be effective." The Vampire Lady said as the moonlight made her blue cold skin almost glow. "I had to go through 'plenty' of them before I found my husband. Clean up is always messy." She said coolly as she smirked. "My husband is figuring out what to do with the windfall we now have. It too much to carry back and we remembered the age of the spirits that maned the 'Magitech' unit strategy tent."

"I don't regret punching King Ironheart for using young children from across time to win his war. They were great strategist and their tactics were just as good, but they were as young as 8 years old!" Zane said as the Duel spirits winced at the reminder. The spell that had picked spirits for the puppets aimed for usefulness over the age of the human it took. "After much deliberation, I decided to give this gold to the children that suffered to win the war." Vampire Lord said as he misted up the tower. "I hope you can find them, Battle Master Zane?"

"I have their names, voices, and some of their personal history written down. Some will be harder to find." Zane said then had an idea. "I know what decks they use! I can track down the Duel Spirits here and ask them for more information." Queen Rose smiled at this. "Mei is still trying to find a way to beat your Heroic Spirit Deck." She commented. Zane laughed "I knew the Harpy Sisters were in Mai's Deck, but you too? She's lucky to have you on her side. Anyone else have surprising card holders?"

"We have a possible card holder, named Camula. She's a vampire who sealed herself in a coffin since the medieval ages." Vampire Lord said in hopeful tone. "You want me to track her down and help her make a zombie deck." Zane read in between the lines. "It would be helpful for us because Vampire Genesis, who hasn't had a card holder in a long time. No one wants to run him and he's getting 'annoyed'." Vampire Lady said in pleading, she never pleaded, voice. "Right, don't want him going on a rampage." Zane muttered deep in thought.

"I'm trust you Rose to watch Electra and Aria while I check the 'anti-humanoid' Duel Spirits' lands." Zane said. "Who's Aria?" Queen Rose asked tilting her head confused. "Just tell Electra 'Aria can show off' and you'll find out." Zane said jumping off the tower. They rush to the window, just in time to see his firebird form fly off laughing at them. "Did you know he could do that?" Sir Critias asked. "He joked about the puppet being too heavy to fly but I had no idea he could do that." Vampire Lord said just as baffled as the Knights were. "He looks better as a bird." Queen Rose critiqued.

"Mother! I saw a fire bird!" Aella yelled as she flew up to the tower window. Electra was hanging onto her ankles as she flapped harder than normal. Aella flopped on floor sweating profusely. "It's hard to carry a human." She said as her mother smiled at her proudly. "That's why you only hunt what you can carry. Electra, Zane said 'Aria can show off'." Queen Rose said and they got another shock as Aria uncoiled and flew out the tower. She proceeded to return to her true sizes and bask in their stares.

"Isn't she pretty? Papa hatch her egg, making Aria my sister." Electra said. "How many other non-human family members does Zane have?" Sir Hermos asked. "There's the digital angels and other beings that call him family. There's Thor who called him something I don't remember. And some others he told me about." She listed. "What it 'Battle Brother'? The Norse warriors say that about the one they trust to have their back in a fight." Dark Sage said as he had come to find out what the fuss was about. He was in the middle of a project and a Mist Dragon appearing out of nowhere didn't help.

"that's what he said. He even gave Papa a cool axe with 'twin newborn stars' in it. It's funny when people try to lift it and fail while making weird sounds." Electra giggled. Dark Sage's voice had a hint of interest. "Young Lady, that is a magical weapon on a near godly tier in the right hands at least. And one that anything flammable would not want to face." Dark Sage added the last bit with a pointed look at the Vampires.

Queen Rose changed the subject before an argument started, by someone dredging up an old grudge the Vampires had with the Dark Sage. "How would you like to visit our home? Zane has a job and it's likely not safe for you because you are a fleshy humanoid." Aella squealed with glee. "Please say yes! I can show you all the cool places. We've got a lot of mountains but there is forests full of game we hunt too." She explained rapidly. "He's really letting me visit a friend's house. YEAH! He must really trust you." Electra said hugging Queen Rose. "Do you have any other friends?" Vampire Lady asked as the Knight had left to calm everyone down. "There's a few but they live with us or are on a planet that is made of crystal. Very pretty but not nice to sleep on." Electra muttered. "There, there, sweetie. Not everyone can sleep on a pile of gold like a dragon." Queen Rose said draping her wings over the young girl. All her friends were ether too afraid to anger her family, lived in the same area or lived in places that weren't as pleasant for other races. Such is the life of some import being's offspring.

"Ugg! It's so annoying when someone dances about just because you're important." Dark Sage wheezed. "a good friend will not care who you are. I'll take those friends over posers without a lick of comradery." Vampire Lord snorted at this in agreement. He might not like the Dark Sage but there was points they agreed on.

A few hours later

Duel Spirit World

Outside the Dark Lord Ha Des's castle

Zane was passing over the castle of Dark Lord Ha Des, a nasty fiend that makes deals like a devil would, costly and one sided. Out of nowhere a figure flew at him and grabbed him by the neck. "Help there, birdy. We need to have a chat." The being holding him purred in a very bad way. She was half female human and half dragon with purple and black skin, clawed hands, two toned hair, draconic wings, and three eyes. It was Yubel, servant of the Supreme King and the Gentle Darkness. Zane didn't even know who the Supreme King's current Reincarnation was, let alone why his servant was after him.

"What have I done to cross the Ruler of Gentle Darkness?" Zane wheezed and the clawed hand gripped tighter. Yubel was a not trusting him as she shakes him up a bit. "You used him in your war ten thousand wars ago! Last week he told me about the 'weird dream' he had. HE's only 8 YEARS OLD!" she bellowed at him. "It was King Ironheart that did it! He made a deal with Ha Des for a spell that would empower the 'Magitech' Puppets to win the war. I was one of the spirits taken by the spell!" Zane yelled as his windpipe was getting crushed. Yubel loosened her grip as Zane gasped for air. "Who are you?" She demanded. "The history books called me Battle Master Zane of the Laskaris Clan. I kept him and the other children from doing any fighting. If you tell me his current name, I might know who you are trying to kill me over." Zane said then sighed in relief as she lets him go. "Jaden Yuki." She said not caring how close she was to break Zane's bird neck.

"I remember Jaden well. He's crazy ideas helped deal with flying enemies. Who other than a kid would say to 'glue up their wings' with a straight face?" Zane said laughing. "So, we made glue bombs and lobed them at the enemy. Worked about half the time, even on ground units." Yubel felt proud her card holder had helped without fighting on the frontlines. "Ha Des lied to me then. He said King Ironheart got the spell from a bird and pointed at you." She said crossing her arms. "He's the deal making devil of the Duel Spirit World. Why did you trust him?" Zane asked. "I didn't. He's currenting out cold with limbs that have been 'comprised' structurally." She said coldly as Zane noticed the blood on her. Sucks to be that fiend.

"Question, was Jaden the one that is getting his deck idea set to space? Kaiba said that it was the most amusing collection of aliens he's ever seen." Zane asked. Yubel nodded "Jaden was quite happy to meet the duelist with the legendary decks…" She trailed off as it clicked into place. "The duelist name is Zane Laskaris, and you're called Battle Master Zane. A card that is a part of the Laskaris Deck. I almost snapped the neck of Jaden's favorite Duelist." She said numbly. "Not the worst that has happened to me. By the way, swing by the Atlantean kingdom to pick up a reward of gold coin for the aid he provided. Tell them I set you and it will be fine!" Zane said as he flew off, healed up. Yubel blinked before smiling. It was a good thing Zane had told Jaden to keep her card close or they wouldn't have met like they did.

Almost a day later

Duel Spirit World

Cyber City

Zane dropped to the ground in human form and waked up to the gate. Cyber City was a futuristic city that had a low opinion on fleshy beings. They preferred to upgrade themselves to be better and more efficient. Towering over him at the gate was a pair of Cyber Orges, giant fully cybernetic beasts with only one horn and the other broken off. "State other name and reason for visit." They demanded coldly as weapons were trained on Zane. "Zane Laskaris. I wish to find out the whereabouts of the Truesdale brothers." Zane said calmly.

And hour later

Cyber City

Zane wasn't sure what happened, but he wakes up on a metal slab with a Cyber End Dragon, a slick steel plated hydra cybernetic dragon with three heads, looking at his from a monitor. Robotic arms with painful looking tools ready to cut into him. "What are your intentions?" Cyber End Dragon demanded. "I'm trying to find all the members of the 'Magitech' unit that are still alive. I know Shepperd and Crawler are adults but it's harder to find the younger people that were drafted. For the war. I'm surprised some many of them were taken from this year." Zane explained. "You speak truth. 'war founds' acquired." Cyber End Dragon said as the reward was finally sent to Cyber City. "You are free to go, Flesh bag." Cyber End Dragon said as the arms disappeared into the walls and the restricts came undone. Zane rubbed his wrists as he got off the slab.

"It always 'flesh bag' with you mechanical beings." Zane grumbled as he was knocked out again. He'd later find himself outside the gate with addresses and names of who lived there added to his gummiphone. It seemed that the Cyber End Dragon had been keeping an eye on the members of the 'magitech' unit members for the past few days. It the list covered most of the members that findable. Some of the members were no longer alive for various reasons whereas others weren't even born yet.

A week later

Duel Spirit World

Rainbow Ruins

"This is so peaceful." Zane said sitting in a shady grassy patch with Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat, a pink cat wearing an armor piece with said gem in it, lounged with him. "It is our home after all. We must thank you for finding Rainbow Dragon's Slab. It may be years before we find a card holder, but they will have a complete deck to bond with." She purred. "That and the fact have mouse tempura you love." Zane said amused. Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat didn't deny it. "What is this I hear about a Ruby Carbuncle that isn't one of us?" Crystal Beast Topaz Tiger, a white tiger with blades on his legs and forehead and the gem on the side of his neck, demanded. Crystal Beast Amethyst Cat batted one of the treats Zane had given her into his mouth saying, "Oh calm down. It's from another world unconnected to this one. Enjoy the mouse Tempura."

The tiger chewed it and blinked at the taste. "so small yet packed with robust flavor. It's like nothing I ever eaten before." He says padding away. "Sorry about that. When he gets going, things get messy." She stated. "We are proud to be Crystal Beasts and you know how things can get." Zane understood. Overhead a serpentine dragon with a white body and seven different pairs of gems set in its body watched over the area vigilantly.

A few days later

Duel Spirit World

Hero City

"Thank for catching the Dark Scorpion Gang." A gold armored hero with blade arms and wings, Elemental Hero Bladedge, said shaking Zane's hand. "No problem. The heroes in Dark City are fuming when the thrives escaped. They say if they had their lost member, they'd have caught them." Zane said chuckling. "Our rivals, the Destiny Heroes are skilled, but I think it was you, the 'x factor', that was the MVP in this catch." Bladedge said. "The Dark Scorpions escaped! Again!" A dark-skinned Hero with a long ponytail but no shirt, Elemental Hero Wildheart, roared as he stormed towards them. On his back was his back was his sword and oversized boomerang, the Cyclone Boomerang.

"Calm down Wildheart. We got the stolen loot back." A green skinned, winged hero was a red dragon head for an arm, Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, said calmingly. "This has happened before and will happen again. They are 'slipperier than a greased pig' as the saying goes." Zane snickered at the southern figure of speech. "So is the 'greatest hero' young Electra has ever met. Sparkman was disappointed he wasn't in top ten." The heroes laughed remembering Elemental Hero Sparkman's reaction.

"When did my daughter visit?" Zane asked. Wildheart tried to recall how many days ago it was. "I think it was a week. A blue bubble themed hero, Elemental Hero Bubbleman, was cleaning up and overheard the question. "It was six days ago. I remember because That was the day Yubel dropped off a large sum of gold that was apparently Jaden's." Bubbleman said as he washed a window. Heroes did more than catch villains, sometimes they helped keep the place clean.

"Wasn't also because Aviain was called a 'parrot man' by a little girl?" Wildheart asked as the heroes started laughing again. "Get back to clean up or this city will look like the slums!" A fierce female hero with long hair and a red outfit, Elemental HERO Burstinatrix, yelled and the heroes scattered. "You too!" Burstinatrix said throwing tools at Zane and forcing him to help clean u the mess he had a hand in. "Man, she is bossy when she wants to be." Zane said clearing up rumble. "That's just how she is. I'm Clayman, nice to meet you." A head headed earthen colored clay golem Elemental Hero said in a smooth voice. "So, did anything else happen when Electra visited with the Harpies?" Zane asked.

Clayman lifted a big chunk of rubble and said, "She got to take part in the 'blast the target' competition we heroes do to stay sharp. It has three divisions to it. Long range, mid-range, and short range." Clayman said plainly. "Sounds fun, how did she fair?" Zane asked as Burstinatrix glanced his way to make sure he was work as well as chatting. "She did well in long and mid, but she got a way to go before she gets in the top three of any of the divisions. She did win a medal for creative ways of breaking the most targets in the least number of attacks. She called it 'Chain Lightning', took out a dozen targets at once." Clayman stated. "not bad for a human. I wander when the new heroes from the stars will come."

Zane looked at the Duel spirit with interest. "You know about the Neo-Spacians? They were created from scratch by Jaden and set into space, not too long ago. I don't even know if they have Duel Spirits yet." Clayman chucked. "We go a transmission from the new Elemental Hero, Neos, yesterday. He and his Neo-Spacians will arrive at the right moment, like a good hero does." Zane sighed good natured. "The Gentle Darkness has a new face. What of the 'Evil Heroes'? Are they around?" Zane asked. "They are but they only show up when the Supreme King deeds them needed. Think of them as the Black Ops unit. They don't hold back and aren't 'PR friendly' like we are." Clayman said. (he means Public Relations).

Later that evening

Atop a skyscraper in Hero City

Zane played and sung a haunting lullaby hoping that Electra would hear it wherever she was. He had learned Queen Rose had taken her on a tour of the other 'kingdoms', some were empires, cities, and things like that. With him was Jaden who was 'dreaming' his spirit into the Duel Spirit World. He was wearing pjs that looked like Zane's armor with a sleeping cap. "You are amazing, Zane. I can't wait to duel you one day." Young Jaden said kicking his feet as he sat on the edge of the Skyscraper. "What brings you to this place, Brigadier General Jaden Yuki?" Zane said still playing and using Jaden's rank he earned during the war.

"I hear this melody and followed it. This is a dream, right?" The 8-year old's question was a loaded one. "Whether you believe it or not, it is 'real'. I won't go into all details, but this is the Duel Spirit World, a place where all Duel Spirits live. There where multiple 'worlds' drifting in the Shadow Realm at first but over time they 'connected' and formed this one vast world." Zane said. Jaden nodded kind of getting it. "What went over your head?" Zane asked kindly. "What's the Shadow Realm?" Jaden asked. "It's a dangerous place and force. It watched humans since forever and over time it changed like we did. Do you remember the war?" Zane asked.

"The weird dream? I remember it sort of. Was it real too?" Jaden asked. Zane smiled at this. Jaden had an odd way he picked up information. "It was real but that was no chance of you coming to harm. Less than seven thousand years after the war, a pharaoh used shadow magic to defend his kingdom from its enemies but that his son sealed the shadow magic away to stop a great tragedy from happening at the cost of his name being sealed as well. That was about three thousand years ago."

Jaden looked at Zane in awe. "You mean Duel Monsters is based on Shadow Games of old? That's so cool! Yubel said shadow magic returned but never explained anything because I'm 'too young'." Zane chuckled at Yubel's protectiveness. "You are the reincarnation of someone powerful. It means you've got powers that most don't have. Don't lose yourself to allure of power and the Gentle Darkness can help you when you need it. Try to stand on your own feet first." He advised the kid. He got a blank look. Sighing Zane said "Think of it like inheriting a powerful card. Alone it can take you far but if it has a great deck to support it and ways to win without relying on one card, then you can go much farther." Jaden got that.

"I know that. No hero can fight alone forever." Jaden said. "I think I've been here before. I 'dreamed' so many cool places that felt so real, but the adults said I was imagining it all. I met this girl young than me getting a medal from Sparkman as the other heroes clapped. Yubel said she was important to you." Jaden described. "My daughter is a treasure I cherish more than any gold. Did you talk to her?" Zane asked as Jaden started to 'stop dreaming' and return to his body. The sun was starting to rise, and Jaden said, "I asked if I could be with a cool hero like her." Zane stared as Jaden vanished completely. A smile creeped on to his face. His Electra, already a hero, at her age. With a whoop of pure joy, he turned into his fire bird form and sung as he flew away.

World of Games

Industrial Illusion HQ

Art Department

Pegasus shot up from the stool he feels asleep on. Before him was an easel holding a canvas that he was working on. It showed a shadowed figure playing something atop a skyscraper with the full moon shining brightly. "I'll call this card, Lullaby of Peace. Maybe a card effect like 'Threating Roar' but not a scary monster stopping the battle phase from happening." In the corner was a canvas of a battle from a war long ago. Metal Puppets throwing glue bombs and monsters getting entangled. 'Crazy tactics', an amusing trap card that effect read as such 'Flip a coin. If heads all opposing monsters can't attack or change that battle position for three turns. If Tails, the battle phase is skipped.'. It was a card idea that came to him a few days ago. He had to create it for some reason.

"Shall I have it as a spell card? Yes, I will, but what kind?" Pegasus mused. "A quickplay spell card sounds right. I wonder if the Little Birdy intended to leave that connect when he made this eye." He taps his fake eye, not feeling any pain. It took time to get used to the idea of an eye that was like his magical one but looked normal. The connection he was talking about was one that let him have dreams of Zane's memories. Nothing too secretive but some of them were eye opening. Pegasus saw glimpses of worlds he never imagined. Speaking of, he needed to work on the new PYRO field spell. He hoped Zane didn't mind him basing it off the molten landscape of Earth Prime.

A few days later

World of Games

Kaiba Corp HQ

"Let's see what Zane has to say about disappearing on my island." Kaiba said as he got an email from Zane. He opened it and stared. "How did I pick an island with a natural Spirit portal on it? An attached photo?" He opened the link and stared at the helmeted face of Kaibaman posing with Electra with three Blue Eyes behind them. He zoomed in on the medal around her neck. "'Most Creative Target Blasting'. Nice to see I look good even as a Duel Monster." He went back to the email and continued to read it. "A war ten thousand years ago? That's a bullet we dodged. And a speech to make tomorrow when they ask me if Dual Monsters was to blame for the 'war dream phenomena'?" Kaiba was confused until the phone rang. "this is Seto Kaiba." He answered. "You are requesting answer some question about the 'war dream' a bunch of people across the globe had recently? I've got a few hours free around noon tomorrow." He hung up the phone. "At least the speech fits me." Kaiba muttered and he printed it out.

The next day at Noon

World of Games

Global Press Conference

"Seto Kaiba, what is your opinion on the 'war dreams'?" An UN member from America asked, "I'm going to tell you the truth of what happened. If you believe me, then great, if not, I don't care." He began. The speech was a loose one so Kaiba could adlib it to his liking. "Magic is real and can be dangerous. The magic in question is Shadow Magic. With it, beings can enact 'Shadow Games'." Kaiba said as people started muttering. The representative of Egypt nodded in agreement. "These 'Shadow Games' are in our records. It can be any 'game' you wish it to be and to lose or cheat one can be deadly. It depends on the rules of that challenge. Are you saying a Shadow game was behind the 'war dreams?"

Kaiba snorted at this. "Not quite. Ten thousand years ago, a war was waged. King Ironheart, a name all the 'War Dream' victims remember hearing, got a forbidden shadow magic spell to call 'spirits across time' to aid his cause. They were shoved into 'Magitech puppets' and helped him stop and kill a soul devouring evil. I was told all this by someone found ruins, that were almost that old, that tell us this. The one who found it is working on translating the rest of the ruins as we speak.

"What of the fact a child as young as 8 being picked by the spell? He claimed he got the rank of Brigadier General." Someone demanded. "Then he was skilled for his age in planning how to win. Rest assured, just because Duel Monsters is based on a shadow magic, doesn't mean it's dangerous on its own." Kaiba finished and sat down as they argued what to do for a few hours. In the meantime, he wonders what age he should have for minimum to join his Dueling school. 15 was the standard age for that level of school. He all so wondered what Zane was doing.

World of Games

Duel Spirit World

Remote Laboratory

Zane was working on a miniature engine, one the size of a skate wheel. He knew Electra's pokemon journey was three years away and she needed skates or something to get around in style. A bike was nice, but Zane remembered a manga he read, called 'Air Gear'. In this manga that was 'super skates' called Air Trecks or ATs for short. He had been working on recreating them for years, when he had free time, and had mixed results. After he got it to work, he was happy, but they were way too powerful for her to use on her journey. He was working on making a slower but still smooth as butter set of motorized skates.

He was using the lab of Magical Scientist, a balding pale skinned man who was a little creepy. His lab has glass tubes with test subjects, living and dead, floating in green liquid. "Interesting. You are making a footwear that can go faster than a human can normally run. From the looks of it, that is a mode for nonmotorized traveling." Magical Scientist commented reading the schematics with great interest. "Why are you trying to lower the speed?" He asked Zane as the smell of metal burning filled the air.

"Because I don't want her to run over some creature and get them angry." Zane said. "Ah, that is a good reason." Magical Scientist said realizing what he overlooked. "You know, when you said you needed a workspace to work on a project, I didn't think it's be something like this. But you did freely give me a vial of your blood to study, so I have no room to complain." He stated as a computer was doing a complete set of tests to see how Zane's blood worked. He lived in the middle of nowhere because of the research he did, but he still had means of learning about the current events.

This was how he learned the juicy tidbit about the forbidden spell and what it did. He later found it to be a dead end for his research, but it did lead him to running into Zane and getting a small vial of blood. It might be the breakthrough he needed.

A few hours later

Duel Spirit World

Harpy Territory

"It was so much fun to have you around." Aella said hugging Electra. Zane was due back in anytime now. Queen Rose noticed her daughter's tears. She didn't want to her friend to leave yet. "I'll miss you too." Electra said as Zane's fire bird form was getting closer. "Before you leave, I must give you this." A tall red winded being wearing silver armor said as he handed her a staff. "Lord Alector! We didn't know you were coming." Queen Rose said bowing as the other harpies did the same. The staff looked to be a shaft of wood and bone, wrapped with a scaly leather and topped with a more bone and different colored feathers. "Made from the bones, hide, horns, and teeth of the thunder dragons. Wood from a thousand-year-old tree on a hill with an eternal thunderstorm. And some feathers from the harpies and one of my own." He listed as she took the staff. "This is a great honor. He crafts our channelers' staves after dangerous tests." Aella said amazed.

"Hello Sovereign of Birds. I see you are impressed with my daughter." Zane said coolly. Alector answered in turn "How could I not, Lord of the Skies. She has a talent that needs the right tools to be used to the fullest. Why have you not equipped her yet?" The onlookers watched it like a tennis match, silent with bated breath. "For one, do you know how hard it is to get wood from a thousand-year-old tree being struck by lightning constantly yet still standing? It's hard to find a tree like that in the first place. Not even the Moogles dare to use wood like that, too temperamental." Zane retorted.

"As expected, for few know how to do it right. It's good to meet you again." Alector said then he left. "How was your tour of the lands, Princess?" Zane asked his daughter. "It was amazing! I got to see a bunch of places." Electra said animatedly. Zane noticed she was happier than she had been lately, must have needed a new friend to lift her mood.

"Come on you two, we've had a nice time, but the human world needs our attention." Zane said as a gate was opened by Ra. "Make sure to visit!" Aella said as they when through it.

World of Games

Future Duel Academy Island

They stepped out about halfway up the volcano on the island. "Good to see you in person, General Zane Laskaris." A bald man, with a trimmed graying facial hair and wearing a marron robe of the Cyber Art Dojo, greeted with a bow. "Sargent Sheppard. What brings you to this island?" Zane asked with a smile. "Seto Kaiba hired me to be the chancellor of his new school, so I just had to get look at the territory I would be watching over. He also told me to look out for 'War Dream Victims' that might being attending the school down the road." Sheppard said knowingly. "The world know knows about shadow magic and the Cyberdark deck has chosen a person to use them but is waiting for them to 'mature' as a duelist."

The Cyberdark Deck was the 'shadow' of the Cyber archetype. If you didn't respect it, your got heart problems. "I'm guessing it's Syrus Truesdale that it chose? His brother is skilled but Syrus will have even more so with time. I believe he can unite both sides of the Cyber Arts with his Vehicroid Deck down the road." Zane said as Shepherd laughed warmly "You are insightful as ever. I hope you are right. How was the Duel Spirit World?" Electra took the chance to show off her staff to someone in the know. "Look at this! When Papa was 'gathering intel' I earned this." She said proudly even as the staff was taller than she was. "Very well made, even if you need to grow into it." Shepherd praised very amused.

"Zane, I would be honored if you dropped by the school down the road. The future students will love to see you teaching a few lectures." Shepherd offered. "I've got some things to deal with first. But I will think about it." Zane said.

Almost four years later

The Garden

Palace

Royal Master Bedroom

"Papa! It's the big day tomorrow!" The now Ten-Year-old Electra said jumping onto her parents' bed. "Alright, alright! We're up." Zane groaned as Anubis pick up Electra and removed her from the room. "Sakura moved in with Shirou last year and now Electra is going on her journey tomorrow. Where has time gone?" Zane said Aqua. The last three years were quiet, that worried him, a lot. "Dear, the pokemon world may have a few problems but it's stable for the most part." Aqua said reassuring him. Zane swung out of bed and got dressed. He knows what she needed so he was going to help her pack.

Electra's Room

Zane stepped into her room and started at the chaos that greeted him. She had cloths all over the place and was asking Sunshine and Amber what they thought she should take. You could tell she was raised rich as her clothes were made of rare silk. Zane was glad he invested in using silk that made the Darwin Bark Spider silk look weak. Despite being rich, Electra was far from a snob. "Try to pack clothes you don't mind getting dirty but still presentable, My Shining Princess." Zane said. "Papa! You startled me!" Electra pouted. "I want to look nice when I do the non-battle events." She requested. Zane nodded and picked out some dresses that let her natural beauty shine. "This will work well for those events. How about the other stuff?" Zane asked her.

"I've packed that stuff yesterday. But am I forgetting something?" Electra wondered. "You tell me." Zane said. Electra listed everything she had packed, she even planned to take Amber, who was touched by this, with her. "You forgot your staff." Zane pointed out amused. She blushed as she took the staff that was still slightly taller than her. "Right. That is something I need." She said hugging it close. Zane handed her a wrapped box. "Happy Tenth Birthday." He said. She took it and gasped as it morphed into an instrument case. She opened it to reveal as harp made of bone and strings of silk. "It's just like you wanted it. Don't ask where I got the bone from." He joked. It was his own bones (They regenerated even stronger) he used.

"Thank you, Papa!" Electra hugged him as Anubis carried a pair of 'shoes' and a toolbox into the room. "Lord Zane, the ATs are ready to be packed." He said. "ATs?" Electra asked. "They are like skates but better. Be mindful of the path you are going down. The toolbox has extra parts so you can customize them and fix them o the road." Electra packed them carefully along with the harp. "Is Big Sis coming to visit?" She asked. "She's bringing Shirou too." Zane said annoyed. Shirou would forever be the one who came this close to getting shoveled when he fell through the floor into the bathroom when Sakura was showering. The only reason he was still alive was because of Fae muddling causing it to happen.

"Didn't you punish him enough over that?" Electra said firmly. "It's a father's duty to make sure the in-laws never forget or live down the embarrassing moments." He said grinning not unlike a fox.

A five hours later

Royal Ballroom

The party was in full swing with some people only coming for a short time. Electra got a mix of gifts. Standard things like jewelry, clothes, books, trinkets, things not so standard. The blonde-haired man with ladybugs on his chest windowed clothes, who was killing Electra's knuckles in greeting, was Giorno Giovanna, the boss of the Passione mafia. "It is an honor to meet the younger princess of our business partner." He said coolly as Electra blushed brighter than a Christmas tree. Sunshine got in between them and said something along the lines of 'Back off you, smug Italian skirt chaser!'. Despite him not understanding what was said, he replied "I am not a skirt chaser, playboy, or whatever you called me. I simply noticed her beauty. She's not legel yet and not my taste." Giorno was completely calm as he presented a box. "I hope this matches your beauty." She opened it to find a gold necklace with a golden 'medallion' with an odd emblem on it.

"Let me help you put it on." Giorno said and did so skillfully. "Your father has helped us a lot in the past. In return we look out for his family. If you are ever in our city, no one will mess with you wearing that." He whispered as he put on. He vanished into the crowd and left without anyone noticing. It only after did Zane learn he had returned to his home world via the gates to the many worlds that Zane's 'factories' on them.

"Hello big brother!" Electra said as she spotted Shirou and Sakura at a table. "How's the party been for you?" Shirou said, a wedding ring on his hand was telling how much Zane trusted him. He and Sakura had a small wedding, family only, just before Sakura had moved out. Sakura was greeted by an affectionate Sunshine. "It's good to see you too, Sunshine." She said laughing. "Looks like all the kiddies are together. Makes it easier to find you." The heavy set anthromorphic dog henchman, Pete said and Maleficent, his boss, said sharply "Hush you fool. Do you want to get thrown out of the party?" Pete flinched and did as he was told. "Please excuse the fool's comment. I wished to meet the one that feels like a fae." She looks at Shirou intently. "Interesting. Boy, have you noticed any gaps in your memory? Any encounters that seemed like a dream? Stepped into a fairy ring?" She questioned.

"Was told I avoided the notice of the burglars who killed my parents, but I don't remember how I got into the outdoor shed." Shirou stated. The dark fairy smiled. "The Fae experimented on you. No mortal should feel like the Fae craftsmen do, yet here you are. I know not what they intended but I'd watch what you make." She turned to Electra and said. "You are ten now, right?" Electra nodded. "Did you bring the bag?" Maleficent asked Pete.

"Got it right here but it's heavy. What's in it?" Pete asked. She plucked the hand sized bag from him and pulled out items that shouldn't fit it the small bag. Some where priceless looking but others looked plaining and dull. "Pick one of these and it's yours to keep." She told Electra. "These are under heavy Fae Glamor spells. How will I know what they really are?" Electra asked. "We fae can't just give stuff away. Rest assured there are no traps or curses on those objects. How useful it will be is up to you." Maleficent said watching the girl inspect the objects thoroughly. She disregarded the fancy ones and looked at the dull looking ones.

"Why is she not picking one of the shinny ones? That ruby is as big as my eyeball." Pete said confused. "Because it isn't a ruby. None of the shiny ones are worth anything. They are just junk she found somewhere." Electra said as the Glamor was lifted on the shiny objects as she said this. "Well done. You narrowed it down to ten objects of questionable usefulness." Maleficent complimented the girl. Electra discarded all but a rock and a stick. "And so, you find the real treasure. One them is real the other is ordinary. What will you choose?" Maleficent commented revealing that the discarded things were also junk.

"The rock smells of something and the stick smells like bird, Raven, if I'm not mistaken. Rooks, Crow, and Ravens may be from the same 'family', but they have different scents if you know what to look for." Electra said, not noticing the crowd that was forming to see if she would pass the test. "Quite knowledgeable for one so young." A voice said from the crowd. "I choose the rock." Electra said the stick turned into Diablo, Maleficent's pet raven, who perched on his mistress's shoulder. He was annoyed at being turned into a stick. "Well done. This will give light, but only to you, no matter how dark." Maleficent said as the rock turned into a hand holding candle, a Hand of Glory.

"Thank you for the Hand of Glory, even if it's a little creepy to walk around with a severed hand." Electra said. Maleficent laughed in good humor. "Call it what you will. It is a gift freely given." She says leaving to talk with some of the guests. The crowd scattered as the show was over, but some stayed. "I see the rumors were true, Sakura, you look better than me." Fujiko said, nodding at Sakura's body, which was more ampule than Fuijiko's. "And you snagged a man who works out." She says making Shirou blush lightly. "Fiji- cakes, you will always be my priceless treasure." Lupin III said to his wife, playfully hurt that she checked out Shirou. "And don't I know it. Lupin we need to stay clean for the party." She reminded him subtly gesturing to Inspector Zenigata over that the punch bowl, watching them like a hawk.

"Right, even after a few decades, Pops is still trying to catch me." Lupin III said amused as he searched his pockets. "Where did I put that?" He muttered. "You gave it to me to hold on to, remember?" Goemon said. The samurai pulled a tube. "This right here is a telescoping baton. A flick of the wrist and it's ready to fend off creeps." Lupin III explains as Goemon demonstrates. "He forgot to get a gift, so he grabbed something lying around the hideout." Jigen said with a smirk. Lupin III laughed embarrassed "Sorry about the rushed gift, kiddo."

"And this is from me." Fuijiko said placing a box of perfume bottles in the table. "Scent removing perfume, you never know when you are going to need it." She said with a smile. "Both gifts are wonderful." Electra said. Taking the baton and swung it a few times. It had a nice weight to it. "Catch." Jigen said tossing a package that she catches easily. Inside was a set of lights, very fancy ones. "I know you have a sun moth but these with fetch a good price on the market in a few years." He lowed his voice to a whisper adding, "Lupin stole that years ago and it's a rare set."

Goemon brought out a journal. "You can log your travels in this." He said plainly, handing it to her. Inspector Zenigata came over and asked, "May I see what gifts they got you?" He looked at them with Electra's permission "The lighter set is question able but what's with the hand candle?" Inspector Zenigata asked looking at the Hand of Glory weirdly. "It's magic, Pops. I wouldn't know where to find anything like that easily." Lupin III said with a grin. "Well, I can't arrest them here even if I wanted to so, here's my gift." He hands her a swiss army knife. "It's got what you'd expect it to have but I got it engraved with your name. Wasn't sure what you'd want, but I heard you were going on some camping trip." Inspector Zenigata rambled.

"I have one already but this one is more special because of the extra touch you gave it." Electra said kindly. "Stay safe, little missy." Inspector Zenigata said walking away but keeping an eye on Lupin's gang who scattered among the crowd.

A few days later

The Forest of Nibel

Kuro's Nest

"So, you heard my woes and I hope you have some advices." Zane, in his fire bird form, said to Kuro. Kuro understood what He was feeling. His chicks had left the nest and his mate understood better than he did. All chicks leave the nest someday. She checked the eggs she was warming. Soon after her chick left the nest last year but set up a nest that was flyable from here, she had found a mate after much searching and the eggs were the result. The male had long since left as expected. He didn't want to be so close to the Spirit Tree. He serviced his purpose and she had more owlets to hatch and raise.

Zane listened to her 'words' and nodded. "'Enjoy life and the fact your mate isn't kicking you out of the nest.' Wise words from a mother of your stature. Farewell Lady Kuro!" Zane called taking off. Kuro huffed good natured. That strange bird was still a mystery to her after all these years. In fact, he felt different over the years, like a being of legend. If he was that legendary being, then she was blessed he wasn't angry at her attempt on his life that one time.

 **Author's Note: Electra's Pokemon Journey will be told in side-chapters. As for Zane, he will be exploring worlds now that his children have 'left the nest'. On the topic of Kuro mating then kicking the male out. Yes, most Owls mate for life, but most males don't stay to raise the offspring, only to come back to mate again, repeating the cycle. See you next chapter!**


	21. Ashes of the Dawn

**Welcome back. Zane's doing some solo missions and stuff to get his mind off worrying about his kids. There will be spoilers for: One Punch Man, Yu Yu Hakusho, Bleach, Spider-man**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff**

 **Chapter 21: Ashes of the Dawn**

Flashback almost 4 months prior to Present time

Lettered City World (One Punch Man world)

City C

21st Super Fight Tournament

"Zane Laskaris is the winner! Sadly, Wolfman was lunched out of here like a out of the park homerun ball. I pray he survives his flight and tries again next time." The announcer said as the crowd cheered. In that crowd was Aqua and Electra cheering louder an anyone else, in Zane's opinion. The referee handed his prize when a cocky man with spiky black hair and wearing a blue uniform seated onto the white stone ring. "How about we have a match to celebrate your victory? It's not every day you get to fight the four-time Super Fight Champion." Suiryu said.

Zane turned to the referee. "Standard rules for this match." The referee nodded and took the price to keep it safe as the fighters got ready. "It's not often that A boxer gets into these tournaments. I heard you got in because Master Bang recommended you." Suiryu said with an annoyingly smug look. "It's called Pankration, one of the oldest fighting styles in the world. I will not have a brat, who doesn't care if the world burned, belittle it." Zane said. The Announcer was talking but Zane was too busy glaring at Suiryu.

"Who cares what you think of me. When you have power, it doesn't matter all." Suiryu said as he attacked. Zane did nothing as wind blasted from the impact. "You didn't move at all. That is a solid defense. I guess I can hit you harder than the others." Suiryu said jumping and slamming his leg into Zane's head. Zane was buried completely. He just got out of the hole as Suiryu did attack after attack, taunting him. The Taunt that went too far was "Whoever taught you to fight must be rolling in their grave." Suiryu said as he used Void Phoenix Ascension Fist at full power.

"It was stopped cold as the arena was fragmented. "My teachers taught me many things, one of those things was not to waste energy on pointless fights. You lack training and disciple." Zane said in a harsh whisper. Suiryu stared in shock and for the first time, fear. The Crowd didn't know what happened next. One moment Suiryu was fighting, next he was in the announcer box, bloody, broken and totally out cold. Zane 's fist was out like he punched but they never saw him move. "Zane Laskaris won again! He's a human tank that can't be dented!" Announcer said bluffed as the medics took Suiryu away.

An old man with white hair and mustache, bend with age, smiled. "Well done Zane. You are worth of being the third strongest S rank hero." Bang said from the fighter box. He had bent the rules a little to get Zane into this tournament, but it was worth it to see that cocky brat get beaten for the first time.

Flash back end

Lettered City World

City Z

"That is a problem." Zane, with his armor donned, said staring at the meteor headed for the city. A blonde-haired cyborg, Genos, and Bang were standing with him. Metal Knight's Battle Bot, Rank S 7 hero, had failed to do anything to the space rock. Zane guessed it was roughly the size of an office building. "Rank S 3 hero, Crimson Knight, can you do anything?" Genos asked. "Saitama could easily smash it, but the ruble would destroy the city." He pulls out Margert and pulls the ripcord, his weaponized guitar roared to life. She was eager to face this challenge. "You are going to hit it back into space, with that?" Bang asked, he had heard of Saitama, Hero name 'Capped Baldy' Rank A 38 because of the number of monsters he's somehow taken out, the fact you didn't know how strong he was contributed to the rank not being higher. Bang was going to ask to train him after the space rock was dealt with.

"Margert was made for things like this." Zane said before launching himself upward with weapon ready to swing. The Bald, yellow track suit and red caped hero they were talking about, watched Zane's attempt with a bored expression. "I'll try next if he fails." Saitama said flatly. The sound of a guitar riff echoed loudly as the meteor reversed its flight path and shot back into space with a sonic boom, that broke every window in City Z. "That was cool." Saitama said as Genos and Bang stared in shock.

City A

Hero Association HQ

Sitch, a middle-aged man with a big nose and gray hair stared at the monitor with a dropped jaw. "What is he thinking? Trying to show me up!" A short green hair woman, wearing a black dress and floating with ESP, yelled angerly. This angry Esper midget was Tatsumaki, hero name 'Tornado of Terror', age 28 (even if she looked like a grade schooler). The scruffy bearded black-haired Hero Association worker was slumped in relief as the meteor threat had been stopped. "Crisis averted with the only injury being from the raining glass. No fatalities reported at this time." He reported as Tatsumaki continued her rant. The only reason Zane wasn't a higher rank was because Bang wasn't around to defend his spot as Rank S 1 and Zane was content to let the 'ranting brat' have Rank S 2, Zane words exactly on the subject.

"I'm sending available heroes to City Z to help with clean up and recovery efforts." He told Sitch, who nodded slowly. Tatsumaki floated off to sulk, even though she refused to help stop the space rock because of her pride. It wasn't anyone's fault but her own that someone stopped it in her place.

A month later

Lettered City World

City A

Hero Association HQ

Zane arrived because of a mandatory Rank S hero Meeting happening. He was the first to come and was waiting for the rest to arrive. As they arrived Zane took note of each one. Blast was absent. The brat was glaring at him. Bang, Hero name, Silver Fang, was rank S 4. S 5 was Atomic Samurai, a man with the skill to slice you to dust and chews on toothpicks all the time. S 6 was Child Emperor, a brown haired ten-year-old boy who was a robotics genius. Metal Knight was absent. S 8 was Zombieman, who was dealing with a monster attack. His power was not dying and extreme regeneration. S 9 was Drive Knight, a tech-based hero with black hair a white mask and one 'eye'. Zane wasn't sure what he was.

S 10 was Pig God, a massive fat man that can and will eat any monster he encountered without suffering even indigestion. Less Zane thought about that the better. S 11 was Superalloy Darkshine, a bald dark-skinned bodybuilder that wore very little and had skin that make steel look soft. He was rather modest too. S 12 was Watchdog Man, a man in a dog suit that acted like a dog. S 13, Flashy Flash, a sword wielding shinobi that left glitter trail when he attacked at high speeds. S 14, Genos, hero name Demon Cyborg. Saitama had tagged along too because he was Genos' teacher. S 15, Metal Bat, a pompadour punk with a metal bat and not too bad a guy to hang out with when he wasn't angry. S 16, Tank top Master, very muscular dude and wears tank tops. Zane groaned as Rank S 17 entered. A tall hairy chested muscular dude named Puri-Puri Prisoner, tended to lose his cloths when he flexed too hard. The only thing Zane had like about him was his taste in knitted sweaters. He was just to off-putting to be friends with.

"This is good tea. You made it the traditional way, right?" Atomic Samurai asked Zane as he set the cups down in front of each hero. "Yes, My Father got a tea set from a high ranking Yukuza leader when he was still alive, so I took interest in how to make tea the 'old ways'. Luckily, I don't need to do the formal version for this meeting, or it'd taken forever." Zane said as he got an amused smirk from a few of the heroes. "the tea leaves were grown from the Garden." Zane said. "The Garden? Isn't that the place that the weird mushroom dude's sign said he got his stock from?" Saitama asked. "From the farmer's markets? Yes, the Garden grows all sorts of stuff." A White Mushroom Heartless ported into the room in panic. The Heroes almost attacked when Zane calm down the Heartless. "What's the matter?" Zane asked. The heartless handed over a scroll sealed with black wax seal.

"Please explain why there is an intruder in this room?" Sitch asked as he entered the conference room. "Short version or a little longer version?" Zane asked. "Judging by how it's hiding behind you, it trusts you to protect it." Bang said. "The longer version please." The other heroes silently agreed with him. "After a series of events, I defended his kind from their much more murderous brethren. As thanks they banded together repay the debt, they believed they owed me." Zane sighed rummaging in his bag. "It didn't help I later built the Garden to give them a safe place to live."

They stared at the crown he pulled out. "They made you their king. That sounds little excessive." Genos commented. "That's not even the last of it. At first it was gifts here and there then it was statues and art of me and my family. Then they volunteered to work for me without pay!" Zane said exasperated "the last one was not easy to change. 'workers must be payed' as the rules say so they work for room and board." The Mushroom gave Saitama an apple and took payment from him. "see what I mean? They are the most frustrating loyal subjects I've got."

"Can we start the meeting properly?" Sitch asked then began to explain how renowned fortune teller Shibabawa had almost died when she made the following prediction 'The Earth is in danger'. She was spot on with the rest of her predictions in the past so that was why it required this meeting. "Well it might be because of the 'dangerous ship full of aliens headed for City A' as scroll they rushed to me said." Zane commented indicating the scroll he got. "They only put a black seal if it's urgent. They started to evacuate the city as a we speak." Zane said.

"hold on! How are a bunch of mushrooms going to get everyone one to safety?" Metal Bat asked, "They can teleport you moron." The 'brat' said like she was above everyone. "When is this ship arriving?" The ground rumbled and Zane said "That was them bombarding the evacuated city, most likely. People are going to be so angry City A being reduced to rubble, but it can be easily rebuilt." Zane was calm as he stood up. One of the works ran into to report City A was destroyed by a black spaceship firing giant, bigger than a person, solid shell bullets. "Well, we better greet the invading force in kind." Zane commented as the heroes followed him out of the HQ.

Ten minutes later

On board the Dark Mater Thieves' Spaceship

"Saitama, head left, right the bust the wall to find the boss of the ship." Zane said over the intercom. Getting the Esper brat to throw him at the ship was easy. Reaching the bridge of the ship and being attacked at every turn was a little harder. Zane looked at the shriveled-up corpse of an esper squid alien named Geryuganshoop. All the esp powers in the universe will not help when someone can roast you like a turkey inside of your 'unbreakable' esp bubble. "If you want to live, get the hell off this ship!" Zane roared at the quivering aliens, who ran like the hounds of hell were after them.

Zane was alerted to escape pods being used as the remained for the crew fled the ship. Zane noted that Saitama was in the 'throne room' of the ship and was fighting the boss of the invaders. On one of the monitors a progress bar was filling as the words 'transferring data' blinked above it. He was taking all the information because he didn't trust the man behind 'Metal Knight' at all. The ship shook at it was bombarded from below by the esper brat and from above as Saitama fought the boss.

"Come on! It's almost done!" Zane yelled at the computer. "yes! Transfer complete. Only thing on this hard drive will be the fight Saitama was having!" Zane ran out of the bridge as it the ship started to tilt. He stopped dead when it started to fall. "Oh, come on!" Zane said as he was thrown about painfully. He groaned as the ship crashed to earth and a scuffed-up Saitama found him not five minutes later.

"Hey, you look a little roughed up there." Saitama commented with a smile on his face. He must have enjoyed the fight. "The hole out is down the hall and on the right." Zane said standing up. "Okay. Lead the way." Saitama said with a shrug.

A few minutes later

The Ruined City A

"Master! Were you successful?" Genos asked as he spotted his teacher exit the crashed ship. "It was fun. Too bad it ended so quickly." Saitama commented. Zane was dealing with a brat of another kind. Sweet Mask was Rank A 1 of the Hero Association. He had blue hair and a 'beautiful appearance'. Under the PR mask he wore was an ugly person. "You are not going to kill the invaders. They are my prisoners and I decide their fate, not you two-faced wannabe hero." Zane said as he glared at the brat obsessed with the limelight. "Why do you not kill them? They are our enemies, weak ones at that." Sweet Mask shot back.

"Show we try to break them up?" Metal Bat asked as they watched the argument escalate from what to do with prisoners to whether Zane was a worthy of being an S rank hero. "Let them fight, Sweet Mask will learn not to mess with Zane in three, two, one." Bang counted down. "Don't you dare bring my family into this!" Zane roared punting Sweet Mask, ending the argument. "Well, Sweet Mask forgot about the list." Saitama commented. "You mean the do not mention near Zane list? I thought it was a joke." Puri-Puri Prisoner asked, as he put on the clothes that was throw at him.

"Oh, it's not a joke at all. I heard a monster said the x guy's name and Zane was far from happy. All was left of the monster was an anti-shadow." Saitama commented. "You knew, the effect when the empty space on a burnt wall looks like the thing that blocked it?" They got it. "Right, number one on the list is he's big on family so don't set him off. The list's got a lot of sub items on that topic alone. The X guy is someone Zane really wanted to kill for reasons he refuses to talk about, other than him being dead." Metal Bat listed. "The scar, he got when he was impaled in some fight that almost killed him, is also off limits. Just review the list and you won't be punted like the poser just was."

Puri-Puri Prisoner smiled. "That is fine. Everyone has issues they need to work on." He couldn't help but overhear half of the phone Zane got as they were talking. "Princess, I hope this is good news." Zane said animatedly. "you won your first contest ribbon? That's wonderful! Sorry I couldn't be there to see it in person. Don't worry, your mother has it recorded, and I will watch it soon as I can. Stay safe on your travels and show them the Laskaris Clan is still strong as the days of the Greek empire!"

"He's Greek? That explained his sword and shield." Atomic Samurai mused. "Must be a secretive clan. I'll ask him later."

The next day

Lettered City World

City M

King's Apartment

King, a blonde slicked back haired 29-year-old human, stared at his friend Zane, who was laughing after he read a clasifed, for now, email. When King was younger, he got three claw slash scars on his face that made him 'dangerous' looking. Deep down he was just a pro gamer with the worst luck of being found by monsters. He's been saved by Saitama, Zane, and other heroes in the past years and was almost mistaken as being powerful.

"What is so funny in that email?" King asked as he took out the dating sim game he just bought out of the bag. "Sweet Mask is now Rank A 2! The first half of Saitama's fight was reviewed, and they deeded him better that that poser!" Zane said as he howled with laugher. "Only the first half?" King asked. "The second half of the footage was destroyed in the fight. But it doesn't matter! Sweet Mask was demoted one ranking for his refusal to help with the invasion, unlike Saitama, who was a lower ranked hero!" Zane explained between laughs.

"Good for Saitama. He'll have a bigger budget now. Speaking of Budgets, what do you with the fonds you get for your hero work?" King asked. "I have most of it squirreled away, for whatever reason I need it. Any trouble on your end, or has the game tournaments being going well for you?" Zane said turning the question back at King. "haven't lost too many times so the prize money is plentiful." King said as the roar of a motorcycle got louder. "Is that getting closer?" He asked as he looked out the window. "Zane, there is a demonic robot biker challenging anyone to a race. He's also got hostages. One of them has a starting gun."

Outside the apartment building

"This is Crimson Knight reporting a monster attack in City M. Disaster level Demon. Clear the streets and wait for my next call." Zane said and ended the call. "You are taking my challenge? Why aren't you wearing your armor and where is your ride?" The Monster yelled. It looked like a knockoff of the ghost rider if you gave him a chrome dip and made him more like Metal album cover art. "I'm the Road Slayer!" He yelled. Zane guessed this was his normal volume. The hostages looked unharmed, but they are chained up to stands facing TVs that showed feed from the traffic cameras in the city. Zane's Moped stopped at the 'starting line' and Zane got on it.

"That's it? This will be a breeze!" Road Slayer yelled with laughter. The hostage with the starting gun fired and they shot out the road, no words needed.

An hour later

As Zane races he noticed everyone in the city was chained to stands with TVs for them to watch the race. The other thing he noticed the was micro factures on 'Road Slayer'. They started appearing them Zane overtook him a few turns ago. The monster was pushing himself beyond his limit and would likely kill himself by the end of the race. As the finish line was crossed, Zane won buy a full bike length, the monster exploded in a spray of metal, motor oil, and blood. "This will be a pain to clean up." Zane muttered as he called in the kill.

"You're amazing! Do all moped drive like your?" A young kid asked as Zane undid the chains. "No. Most moped don't go supersonic speeds. I wasn't going at full speed in that race." The kid's mother was pale, probably the fact her kid wanted to go supersonic speeds on a bike. "The only reasons I can go that fast is because, one I wear a helmet." Zane taps the helmet he was wearing. "And two, I know I can handle the strain it puts on the body." The kid groaned so Zane had an idea. "How well are you on a bicycle?" Zane asked. "I just got my training wheels off, but the monster trashed my bike and helmet." The kid said glumly.

Zane handed a 'Crimson Knight' official riding helmet to the kid. He also handed him a signed photo and a check. "You can use the check to get a new bike. Ride safe, kid." Zane said as the kid's smile was shining. "Thank you again, sir." The mother said. "No problem ma'am. Get home safe while I free everyone else." Zane said before moving on. The lower ranked heroes, who were helping with the aftermath (Freeing the hostages, general cleanup and other jobs), watched as Zane cheered up kids and made sure everyone was OK.

"Biting Snake Fist" Sneck, rank A 38, was pale skinned dark-haired martial artist who wore a snake scale suit. Normally he'd be in City F, but he was called to help with the cleanup. "To think that The Crimson Knight is relatable for them." A female voice said as the sound of heels on pavement let him know of the person's approach. It was a tall dark-haired curvy woman wearing fancy clothing as her 'underlings' did all the work she was to do. Rank B 1, 'Blizzard of Hell' Fubuki, younger sister to the brat of rank S. Yes, Tatsumaki was the older sister, being five years older than Fubuki.

"Shouldn't you be helping?" Sneck asked as he helped people find the medical tents. "I am. I moved several people that needed care to the medics. The Elderly can't always handle the stress of watching a street race." She said in a lofty voice. "You know you aren't fooling me with that mask. You are just as shocked as the rest of us. Zane is like a hero from the comic books. He's powerful, relatable, has a cool ride, and most of all, he's not an arrogant blow hard like your sister." She said nothing.

"In a week they will be opening the sales for the next Hero guidebook with exclusive information about Zane's past. You better preorder it before it releases, I know I have. There are things about him that are 'magical'." Sneck commented as he watched Zane freeing people with a giant key weapon. "It's not ESP, that's for sure." Fubuki commented focusing her senses on the key. "What I do know is that he is a monster. Not evil but so powerful he is dangerous. He got so hot the land around him melted as he, in his words, 'pulled a Godzilla'. He looked like a burning star in the shape of a man, called that form 'Primal King's Mantle' and did a pulse blast that was like the blast wave from a bomb." Fubuki commented

"I remember that fight well. City T was overrun with monsters and there were no one left to save in the city. He burned the city to ash to kill the monsters. They scanned the area over and over but that was no bad radiation found. I believe they rebuilt the city elsewhere because of politics." Sneck said thinking back to the fight a few years ago. The monster, Corpse Blood, was a potential Disaster level God if he was wasn't stopped. He turned all he killed into 'ghouls', according to Zane, that could create more of their kind. The whole city was lost in the hour it took for the heroes to get called in. as soon as Zane had learned they were facing something akin a 'Dead Apostles', refused to explain much about it, he told all the heroes to leave it to him. Five minutes later, the city was gone, and Corpse Blood and his army was dealt with.

"The camera I had planted near Ground Zero was melted a few seconds after the blast wave started. Zane told me 'not to worry about it'. He nukes a city and says that when confronted. I don't know what hell shaped him, but he is a monster with heroic tendencies." Fubuki stated. "I pity anyone who has to face that form in battle." Watching and listening to them was an organic spy drone.

Under City Z

Monster Association hideout

"what kind of monster is he?" Gyoro Gyoro, a multiarmed single eyed slug humanoid monster said shivering in fear. The Dragon level monster had hoped he's learned a weakness Zane had but no! Instead, he learned Zane could travel supersonic speeds and turn cities to ash! No wonder Elder Centipede and Overgrown Rover refused to be anywhere near a city he was in. Their best chance at winning was if he was off planet. He'd muster their forces and wait for Zane to leave.

Almost two weeks later

Lettered City World

City K

Zane looked at the 'hero hunter' who tried to attack him. Garou was buried under rubble of the wall he was sent through with ease. "Garou, you are a hundred years too early to sneak up on me." Zane said in full teaching mode. "Learn more about the heroes and you might have a chance to make the 'monster' beat the 'hero'." Zane said. "Hello, Laskaris odd jobs. This is Zane." Zane said answering the work phone he had for his odd jobs business. It didn't make a lot of money, but it was fun. "You want me to do what?" Zane said as people started to talk and point. "I get that you are the ruler, but your asshole of a father soured any chance of us being close allies." Zane said firmly. The crowd jumped when Zane yelled into the phone "A scumbag did what? Change of plans. I'm on my way and we will have words after the job." Zane hung up and blasted off into the sky on his moped.

A day later

World Based on Yu Yu Hakusho

Spirit World

Koenma's office

The toddler ruler of Spirit World shivered as he waited for Zane to arrive. Koenma was a little shell-shocked some years ago when he learned his father, King Enma, had been brainwashing demons to keep his rule going strong. He was even more shocked when his Father's corpse, with a list of said crimes, was left in his office with a warning from a Grim Reaper. He had grim reapers, also called Ferry Girls, working for him, but this was a Grim Reaper, working directly with Death. He knew it was a gamble, but the target was a scumbag was the founder of the Black Black Club. "Sir the video tape is finished and ready to be delivered." A blue skinned blonde-haired ogre with a single horn, Jorge Saotome, said. "Jorge, how are the preparations for Zane's arrival going?" Koenma asked.

"What are you talking about, sir?" Jorge asked. "You didn't get the memo yesterday! This bad! One of the best agents of Death is coming and you don't have everything ready!" Koenma yelled. "um, sir. There is a biker requesting to meet you." The blue haired ferry girl, Botan said nervously over the intercom. "Send him in." Koenma said resigned to his fate.

"Talk. And fast." Zane said as he strode in. "The founder of the Black Black Club has obtained a rare demon, an Ice Apparition." Koenma explained. "The same demons that never leave their floating landmass of Hyouga? Why did she leave?" Zane asked. "To find her family, specifically her brother who was thrown off of Hyouga for being male." The temperature spiked as Zane got angrier. Koenma swore Zane's shadow looked like a snarling dragon for a moment.

"You deliver the tape while I scope out the people I will be working with." Zane said as he vanished in flash of fire. "Who was that?" Botan asked as she enter to get the tape. "a man you down want to hunt you. Make sure Yusuke gets this by any means. The longer Zane has to wait, the greater the mess he'll leave for me to clean up." Koenma said urgently.

A few hours later

World Based on Yu Yu Hakusho

Human world

Tokyo, japan

Minamino Household

Yoko Kurama, also known by his human name Shuichi Minamino for the past 15 years, smelt something odd as he entered his house. "Shuichi! Come meet my friend!" His mother said as he checked his red hair for the seeds he stashed there. A little bit demonic energy and it's be his preferred weapon, the rose whip. He set his school bag down and entered the living room. She was smiling as the source of the scent talked about his children.

"This is Zane Laskaris. He's the one who paid for the hospital bills while I was ill." Shiori, his dark-haired human 'mother', said warmly. Kurama was a little guilty for taking over her unborn son in her womb, but it's been almost 16 years and the baby's soul hadn't developed yet when he did it. "He has an interesting aroma about him." Kurama said as he bowed politely in greeting. "I'm guessing you work with metal a lot, and there is the fur on your clothes." Zane smirked. "I am a blacksmith and I have a collection of pet foxes among other animals. The foxes love to go into pipes a lot." Zane said.

Pipe Foxes, it had to be what he was hinting at. If he had Pipe Foxes, then he must know who he was talking too. Kurama's expression never changed as his mind raced. "I think I've heard your family name somewhere before. It sounds Greek." Kurama said testing the waters. "Yes, my clan dates all the way back to the time when Greece was a superpower. We're more known from what riches we protect. Legend says a band of thieves tried to steal from us. In the last decade an odd pendent was found in the hand of criminal. I was asked to figure out who it belonged to." Zane said showing off a dark stone on a chain.

"It is said to belong to a thief by the name Kuronue. I have no proof, but you might find it interesting." Zane gave Kurama the pendent his old demon bat thief partner in crime had always carried with him. "Thank you for this gift. You can say I have an interest in notable thieves." Kurama said with a schooled expression. "I must be going. Shiori, remember to only use a drop per square meter of lawn." Zane said setting a bottle on the table.

After he left Kurama asked what the bottle was. "It's plant care he made. It's powerful so you only need a little to extend the life of your garden. Would you believe he made it by mistake?" She said amused. "Was did he intend to make?" Kurama asked reeling back after sniffing the contents of the bottle. "An anti-aging product. You could be in your seventies but not have a wrinkle or crow foot at all. He said you only need to take it once and you will remain youthful for longer." She described. Kurama frowned. "That sounds too good to be true." He said worried. "There are no side effects other than the awful taste. He pulled out all the stops to make sure nothing bad happened to those who use it. You should see the waiting list to buy a dose of it. It's longer than the Tokyo Tower is tall." She said amused.

An out of the way area of Tokyo

Hiei, a short male demon that looked human with tall dark hair and wore black clothes and a headband, was looking at the VHS tape pondering whether or not he should give it to the spirit detective, Yusuke, as Botan wanted him to. "I suggest you deliver it." Zane said from behind him. Hiei swung his sword but the blade only cut the tree trunk. "You wish to find your sister, right?" Zane asked, dodging more sword strikes. "What does it matter to you?" Hiei demanded gauging Zane's strength. He couldn't detect anything, so Zane much be powerful as the message said. "How about a bet? I keep your sister safe and unharmed until the rescue team finishes the job and in return you tell her who you are as soon as the mission is done. Sound fair?" Zane laid out.

"and if you fail?" Hiei asked. "I will paint the walls red before I let that greed tub of lard harm her anymore. The place is crawling with demons, so it'd be a hassle to be protecting her and making sure tubby does suffer for his crimes." Zane said. "Alright. If you fail, I'll slice off a finger for each injury she has." Hiei said as Zane wrote up a Geis, a contact that punishes you if you break the agreement. "Sign here and I will be on my way." Zane said, already signing it. Hiei looked at it and signed. They felt the curse bind them to the agreement.

Zane turned into a fire bird and flew off.

Ten minutes later

Gonzo Tarukane's home

Yukina's cell

Zane slipped between the bars and landed on the outstretched arm Yukina offered. She had mint hair and beautiful blue kimono. Her red eyes were like rubies but held a kindness he didn't expect. The cell had demon wards on the bars. "Hime, your brother has entrusted me to protect you until you are freed." Zane said looking at her in the eye. "Oh, can you tell me about him?" Yukina asked the odd bird.

A few hours later

Yukina wept pearls as she listened to a same song Zane sung her. The moment was ruined when Gonzo, a short fat bald mob boss, entered view with a pair of demons. "What the hell is this? I try to get to get you cry and you are frigid bitch. But a bird has you cry a fortune with a song." Gonzo said as he collected the pearl like tears. "It's a fire bird." The younger but taller of the brothers said. He was massive with super short hair and dark shades with a mouth in a disinterested line. His elder brother was a lanky short man with puffy bedraggled hair and was perching on the Younger Toguro's shoulder like a demented monkey.

"They can a way of moving you one way or another." Younger Toguro continued staring that the bird. "What are you staring for? Deal with it!" Gonzo demanded. "would you like to make a deal?" Zane asked and everyone looked at him. "What kind of deal?" Younger Toguro asked. "Do not harm the girl or the bird who visit her and I will make sure you get more pearls." Gonzo looked ready to decline on the spot but Elder Toguro commented snidely, "It'd be easy for you to get her to cry. You are a minstrel that pucks at people's heart strings." Gonzo got an idea. "As long as you keep the peals coming and don't leave her side, you've got a deal." He said greedily.

"I hope they sell for a good price." Zane said as they were left alone. "You didn't have to do that for me." Yukina said moved by the deal he struck. "I will keep you safe until you are rescued. Besides, you don't have to only be sad to shed tears." Zane said amused. He started to tell a tale that Yukina laughing so hard tears fell like hail with soft tinkling sounds as each pearl bounced.

A few hours later

Outside of Gonzo home

"This is your brother, just as I described." Zane said gesturing a wing at Hiei from his perch on Yukina's shoulder. "Your related to him?" A reddish orange pompadoured teen said as he looked at Hiei, trying to see the resemblance. Kazuma Kuwabara, age 14 and tall for his age. He had acute senses and could form a 'spirit sword'. He also had a crush on Yukina. Yusuke snorted, amused. "They have similar faces and are about the same height." Yusuke commented as Yukina looked the rescue party that came to save her.

Yusuke Urameshi was taller than Hiei but shorter than Kuwabara. He had slicked back black hair and had the look of a punk. None the less, his energy projectiles packed a punch and his training with legendary psychic Genkai held him get stronger. "What about the bird? And where is Zane? We were supposed to meet him here but he's nowhere in sight." Yusuke asked. "He is the bird." Botan stated as she flew in on her oar. "I was protecting this Hime from Tubby while you were playing with the demons" Zane said turning up his beak at them.

"We almost died!" Kuwabara said gesturing to his and Yusuke's tattered clothes. Their injuries were healed but Yukina as they left. "I'm the only reason she wasn't harmed. Tubby loved her tears and because I got her to cry tears without causing her pain, he never harmed her." Zane said. Yukina nodded when Hiei gave a questioning look. "His voice is wonderful at singing songs and telling stories." She praised him. "Thank you for the praise, Hime." Zane said returning to human form and standing before them. "Yep, badass biker who visited our homes to learn about us." Yusuke said. Kuwabara was staring at Zane with intense fear. "so much blood. How many?" He asked taking a step back.

"what are you talking about, Kuwabara?" Botan asked. "He doesn't smell like blood at all." Kuwabara shock his head. "I see him on a battlefield with corpses and fire everywhere. He's drenched in blood, none his own, and he fights on." Kuwabara describes the vision he saw. "He is well known among the demons for his tenacity in battle." Hiei said. "The Daemon they call him. Took out an army of B class demons with ease to get back an item that was stolen." Hiei looked at Zane as he said this. "I didn't figure it out at first, but the lack of detectable power and that vision gave me all the information I needed. What is an enlighten one doing with demons?"

"I may be called Monk of Wrath and Sorrow but that doesn't mean I am a biased asshole who kills demons for being demons." Zane said annoyed. "Add 'badass holy man' to list of complements I have for you." Yusuke said, impressed. "question, how powerful is a B class demon?" Kuwabara asked. "Stronger than the four Saint Beasts we beat. They were upper C class at most." Hiei said with a gleam in his eye. "If you guys need training, I am available. I need to iron out a deal for some treasures Tubby lost to another member of his club. The man only wants the money not the objects so he's willing to sell." Zane said as he left.

A week later

World Based on Yu Yu Hakusho

Human world

A café in Tokyo

"Everyone here is a demon, or human in the know, under your employment. This is bigger than finalizing a deal." Zane said sipping the spiced coffee, after checking for foul play. The smart looking young man with slicked back long black hair smiled. "You don't mind if I volunteered you for a little tournament, do you?" Sakyo asked drinking a coffee as well. "The Dark Tournament is an event you'd be interested in." The Younger Toguro said as he took a seat and joined the conversation. "And the prize for fight demons to the death is?" Zane asked. "A wish for each member of the team that wins. No strings out limitations. There is no monkey paw catch to it." Sakyo said checking that he got the money from Zane.

"And if I refuse you will kill me and anyone that I'm close to, if the rumors are true." Zane sighed annoyed. "When is it?" The 'human' cook was the one that answered. "My boat will be departing from the place listed here in three months' time. Don't be late." Zane took the note and put it away. As he left, he left a tip for the coffee. "This was profitable. He bought all the items I got from Gonzo, including the tears, for double the price. On top of that he will be on the human team this year. Are you confident you can beat him?" Sakyo asked. "not sure but as long as we can get more victories when the time comes, one loss won't matter." Younger Togure said smiling as he was interested in the future clash.

The next Day

World Based on Yu Yu Hakusho

Human World

Japan

Genkai's remote mountain temple

"How did you get younger?" Yusuke asked as he looked at Genkai, a short old lady with a temper. Gone was her wrinkles and her once gray hair was now a pale pink. "Dimwit, I'm still the same age! I tried some 'anti-aging' products to see how well they work." Genkai said glaring up at him. Yup she was the same old short granny that Yusuke remembered. "So why did you call the rest of us here? I know you are going to train me for the Dark Tournament, but why them?" Yusuke gestured to Hiei, Kuwabara, and Kurama next to him.

"They will be training with someone I trust to whip them into shape or at least strong enough not to die to a C class demon because they were careless." Genkai said as they enter her home. "Yukina! You are looking as lovely as ever!" Kuwabara declared when he spotted his crush setting out tea for them. "Hold it, Lover boy. She's here to make sure you don't die from my training." Zane said as it sunk in who was training them. "this is going to be hell, isn't it?" Kurama asked with a resigned look. "I will bring you up to B class before the boat leaves or kill you trying." Zane said. "All you have to do is survive. It will be like the training a couple of my teachers up me through." When it comes to strengthening the soul, more times you come close to death, greater your power gets. So, Zane was going to almost kill them daily to get them stronger as they honed their talents.

"I've got the dimwit's training covered. You can use the grounds to your content." Genkai said. As a welcoming feast was laid out. "Enjoy this moment of peace because tomorrow will 'stressful'." Genkai warned.

Flash forward a month

"Have you unlocked your old demon form yet?" Zane asked a bruised and battered Kurama. "Not yet, it's like there is a wall stopping me." Kurama said as he struggled to get up. "I was afraid of that. You are on the cusp of B class but the whole 'almost dying sixteen years ago' trauma is causing trouble." Zane said rolling his eyes. He tells the rest they had a five-minute break and had Yukina come to heal them. "Kitsune are free spirited creatures so trauma can affect their powers. Until you get past this speed bump, you can get more powerful." Zane stated.

"How do you know about that?" Kuwabara asked. Zane gave them a look as he said, "I'm going to show you my daughter's wedding photo. Do not ogle her because she is taken." Zane hands them the photo. "She is quite gifted beauty wise." Kurama commented. "You have a kitsune daughter? Fur must be everywhere when it's spring." Hiei said with a smirk. "Like you wouldn't believe. Fur, scales, hair, shedding can be a pain to clean up." Zane groaned. "The mess is useful in making stuff, so it balances out."

"She is more beautiful than you described. Electra is the flower girl, right?" Yukina asked, so happy for Zane's family that she wasn't jealous of Sakura's looks. "Her husband is steel, fire and a touch of not human." Kuwabara said as his sixth sense power gave him a glimpse of Shirou. "Good, you are getting better that reading people. Shirou is my apprentice in blacksmithing and an experiment of the Fae." Zane said and pulled out a vial that held a few drops of green goop. "This is what being favored by Lady Titania gets you. Random requests that you have to try to complete." Zane warned.

"The plant cure and Anti-aging stuff was requested by Fae?" Hiei asked. "Lady Titania throws ideas at me and enjoys seeing me struggle to make it so. The lesson is, don't make deals that are open ended." Zane said as the proof of his connect to the Fae Queen glinted otherworldly on his finger. "Back to training." Zane said as the break was over.

Flashforward seven weeks

"Ok, you've mastered the Dragon of the Darkness Flame. It only took you burning your arms to the bone several dozen times." Zane told Hiei dryly. Hiei's third eye, the Jagan Eye in his forehead, closed as he put a fresh headband on over it. "It was an experience I don't want to repeat. It hurt more than those punches of yours. He snarked back as he fell sleep. "Brother!" Yukina said as she ran up to him. "He's just resting. Might sleep a few hours or a few days." Zane said picking Hiei up to take him to the guest room.

Two weeks later

World Based on Yu Yu Hakusho

Human World

Hanging Neck Island

"That was a fun boat ride." Zane commented cheerfully as demons of all kinds groaned looking too ill to compete. "This has to be the first time the human team won the right to get to the island because of a bad storm making the rest of the teams too sick to fight." Genkai said amused. "And Yusuke slept through it all." Kuwabara said as he carried their sleeping team leader on his back. Genkai was the 'back up' teammate if someone got killed. "I know for a fact The Laskaris Law is how we survived." Zane said as the boat behind them fell apart. "MY BOAT!" The captain yelled as he cried a metaphorical river on the edge of the pier. The storm was still raging with gale force winds and towering waves.

"let's just get to the hotel." Kurama said as the failed teams glared their way.

At the hotel

"How was the boat ride?" Shizuru, Kuwabara's brown haired smoking older sister, asked as opened a soda can. With her was Yukina, Botan, and Keiko Yukimura. Keiko was the dark brown-haired human girl that loved Yusuke, she had gotten tangled with the spirit world problem already. "Sis? Why are you here?" Kuwabara asked almost dropping Yusuke in shock. "A man named Sakyo explained demons are real and you were drafted to fight for their entertainment." Shizuru said in an uninterested voice. "Turns out we were on the chopping block if you backed out. Good thing you didn't."

Yusuke was put on a bed and Zane filled them in on what happened the last few months. "And that's how I got us to the island before the boat sunk." Keiko was conflicted. On one hand, Genkai helped Yusuke get stronger but on the other, she nearly killed him to do it. "The dimwit asked for the training." Genkai said. "It will take more than this tournament to kill him, because I didn't waste my time train him just for him to be offed."

"So, you were the one to wreck the ship." A childish looking demon with colorful clothing and three red stars under his eye said as he perched on a dresser in the room. "The captain is swearing vengeance on you as he drinks his sorrows away at the bar." He tips his puffy cap and interduces himself "Call me Rinku." He was mildly surprised when Zane answered in turn. "I'm Zane and I can't wait to see what trick you do with those deadly yo-yos your hiding."

"How do you know I use yo-yos?" Rinku asked. "Trust me when I say, you aren't the first person I met that can kill someone with a kid's toy. The pattern of wear on your fingers in just like Killua's are. I'm guessing you can micro control the yo-yos and strings with energy. That takes training to get it down pat." Zane appaired, somehow crossing the room and inspecting Rinku's hands without anyone one sensing him move. "You're good." Rinku said amazed.

After the first round of matches

In the hotel

"Extra training after the tournament, Kuwabara." Zane said to only one of the three to lose their fight that round. "Hiei blasted his foe to an anti-shadow and Yusuke beat Chū, their captain, netting us the win." Zane gestured to the blue mohawked demon, that smelled of booze, picking out a bottle of booze to cement being allies with Yusuke's group. "Not many can handle Rinku's yo-yo attacks. He dodged half of them so there's that." The drunken said as he took his selection and left to enjoy it later. "How can you dodge Yo-yos are like live snakes?" Kuwabara mumbled with a swollen and bruised face. "Figure it out yourself you fool." Genkai said as she sighed at his foolhardy choices in the fight he lost.

"Why wasn't one of the members of their team there?" Kurama asked. "Oh right. I used Toad on one that was going to use your family as blackmail." Zane said as he fed a very ugly toad to a snake after milking it of it venom. The snake hissed in a happy way as Zane return it to where he pulled it from. "Isn't that a spell in RPGs that turns you into a toad/frog or back to normal if you were already one?" Yusuke asked. Zane just smiled. "I hope the snake enjoys snack." Kurama said also smiling.

Two days later

Hanging neck Island

The first Arena

Koto, the demon referee that looked like a cat girl with brown fur/hair and green eyes, stirred up the crowd. "We've got another day of blood and glory, starting with Team Urameshi Vs Dr. Ichigaki Team." A trio of human fighter followed a very short ugly lab coated demon that Zane hated on first sight. He had a calculating evil look on his face. "The odds are in my favor." Dr. Ichigaki laughed crunching numbers.

"Ref! I'd like to challenge all three fighters alone." Zane said out of nowhere. "It's not my call but I'll ask." Koto said surprised as everyone else was to some degree. "Why should I take the chance?" The doctor asked. Hiei and Kurama still hadn't gotten to the arena yet, smelled of foul play. "You want to study what makes me tick, right? That's why you are using living 'puppets' for this tournament." Zane said as his teammates looked at him in shock. "You noticed my brilliance at a glance? You will be an interesting test subject." Dr. Ichigaki said with pride. "It has been Green Lit! M1, M2, and M3 vs the man that laughs in the face of storms, Zane Laskaris!" Koto said and the match begun.

M1, an orange haired teen, summoned energy rings on his arms. "Angel Chakram" He said in monotone. The rings sliced stone with ease as Zane dodged. M2, an order man with black hair braided and mustache, wearing a Mandarin type outfit, created an energy lance that was invisible to the naked eye, but Zane sensed it with ease. "Swing Crush" He said in the same way as M1. Zane dodged again, testing how M3 would react. Like clockwork M3, a bare-chested brown-haired man, thrust a hand with an energy bomb, hidden just like the lance, in it at Zane, who dodged. "Hound Claw" He said in a monotone as well.

After a few more dodges Zane noted the pulsing thing on their backs and the silent tears they shed. "How are you dodging!" Dr. Ichigaki demanded as each attack just barely failed to do anything to Zane. "If you don't try harder, you master will expire." Dr. Ichigaki had no idea he had pressed a button he shouldn't have. "So that's your game." Zane said coldly. "You screwed with their teacher to force them to be your test subjects." An aura of power flared around Zane as he chanted "Esunaga!" A white light washed over the three fighters and the fleshy things on their backs shriveled up as it fell off harmlessly. The fighters themselves fell out cold as their bodies control was returned to them at last.

"NO! What have you done?" Dr. Ichigaki roared as A pair of lizard men and a robot fell from the sky. Hiei was sitting on the robot looking annoyed. "Your pets annoyed me and Kurama, making us late." He said blankly as Koto was too scared to say anything, her tail puffed out like crazy. "If you harm me their master will die!" Dr. Ichigaki said as he reached for a syringe from his coat. "None of that." Zane said as it burned in the mad quack's hand. "No!" Dr. Ichigaki said as he lost the stuff in the syringe and the fact Kurama was guiding the 'master' of the three he tricked. "Zane wins with a scary show of power." Koto stammered as Zane walked towards the doctor slowly and deliberately. "One last thing to do." Zane said in calm voice everyone heard crystal clear.

"Emerge! I summon you, Atomos!" Zane chanted holding a kaleidoscopic jewel inside of the 'jaws' of a mouth on a chain up. A shadow fell over the open Arena, causing ever one to look up. Above them was a beast. "What the hell has Zane summoned?" Koto said as the wind started to pull the robot, lizard men, and Dr. Ichigaki up into the opening mouth of Atomos. "No! This can't be the end! I have more research to do!" Dr. Ichigaki said holding on to Zane in a vain attempt not to get sucked up into the dimensional hole that was Atomos' mouth. Zane grabbed him by the neck and pulled him close. "You shouldn't have pressed the 'kill the teacher' button." He hissed in the doctor's ear before throwing him up to be swallowed.

As quickly as it appeared, Atomos vanished. "What a way to deal with your enemies! Zane's summon has taken them to who knows where and left the cleanup crew less of mess to deal with." Koto announced as everyone had a new reason to fear Zane. "They're real. I'm so screwed" Kuwabara said shivering. "We'll explain later." Yusuke said to Hiei, who had a silent question. "It has been rules that you are not use that again or be disqualified." Koto said as she got word from the official. "That's fine. I hardly ever use Atomos anyways." Zane said going back to his team.

An hour later

"The next round begins now! Team Urameshi vs Team Mashōtsukai (shortening it to Masho)!" Five black cloaked figures appeared out of nowhere. "I will fight first." One of them said as he throws off his robe. Gama, white skinned pointy eared demon, who's main weapon was special paint he used to 'Buff' and 'Debuff'. "A fellow user of markings. I have heard of you. I use runes and you use your version." Zane said jumping on to the fighting area. Gama wasted no time to start 'buffing' himself. He knew Zane said not someone he could beat. All he needed to do was disable him for someone else on the team.

Within a minute Gama had sealed his spirit energy, weighed down his limbs, and was closing in for a finisher that would knock Zane out. "Zane headbutt Gama into the ground!" Koto yelled "Even with his limbs trapped, he finds a what to win the match!" Toya removed his covering and came over to check his teammate. "He's alive but concussed badly. That will not afford you any mercy." Toya said as he moved Gama from the fight area. Zane couldn't move so he was forced to fight the next match.

Toya was an ice user that had green hair mostly hidden under a turban and was on the short side. He had a fishnet undershirt, a blue shirt, lighter blue pants and a white toga held on with a shoulder jewel. Koto was blushing as she started the match. "Looks like you've got an admirer. Not bad popsicle." Zane said as Toya's eye twitched before returning to a mask of cold logic. "Her interest in me is noted and your insult is childish." Toya said. "It should be. Because a little kid asked me to say that the next ice user I meet." Zane said. This threw everyone off for a moment.

"Good for you." Toya said as ice started to form around the fighting area. Koto jumped out of the storm area shivering. "The frosty hottie is whipping of a blizzard as we speak!" Koto said, "How will Zane handle this!" All you need to do is give up before frost bite sets in." Toya said forming an ice blade over his hand. The ice crept up to Zane neck when he made his move. "stjörnu börn! Your aim is needed!" On the other side of the island Zane had hidden his battle-axe stjörnu börn. They felt Zane's request and flew to him.

The battle-axe slammed into the ice and landed in Zane. 'Begin synchronization' was the silent command Zane gave the Battle-axe. "I never got to show off my 'make up' against Gama." Zane said as runes spread across his body, starting with the hand holding stjörnu börn. "Zane's body is getting hotter as more runes adorn it!" Koto said. "And I don't mean in a sexy way! He's literally glowing with heat!" Zane smiled and swung. Toya felt a burning feeling across his chest then heard ice hitting the ground as his ice blade was cut just after his longest finger. He had been sliced across the chest and was bleeding badly. The storm stopped as he fell forward to the ground.

"only 28% synchronized. Shame it didn't get higher." Zane said as the runes receded. He put the axe on his back and picked up Toya. "Don't worry about your 'frosty hottie'. I can fix him up." He told Koto who looked ready to hug him or hit him, maybe both. The tallest of Team Masho started to complain but was hit with Toad by Zane. "Anyone else want to complain?" Zane asked He used Toad on another one of their team along with a few dozen demons in the stands. "That's what I thought. Carry on." He started to heal Toya and Gama as Jin, the wind master disrobed and floated to the fighting area.

He was imp-like with red hair and a horn on his forehead, wearing white toga like baggy clothing. "This has been very interesting. I can't wait to fight someone." He said with a cheerful tone. Yusuke stepped up to fight him. What followed was an interesting fight. Jin's Tornado Fist was as much a defense as it was offence. The wind deflected Yusuke's attacks to the point Yusuke aimed on into the eyes of it. The blast detonated with enough force to send Jin into the stands, aka out of the ring. "That was a crazy move!" Jin said as he lost. "You're cool in my book, along with Zane. There's something about him that feels like kin to me."

"We lost." Gama said as he lay on the ground. "That Battle-axe isn't normal." Toya said lying next to him. "You are lucky I didn't kill you. If it was anyone else, you'd be corpses being buried." Zane reprimanded them. "I'll untoad your teammates later. They need to have a time out." They laugh a little at this. "They will never live this down." Toya stated knowing it to be fact.

Later

At the hotel

"the spell and summon Zane used are from the Final Fantasy games. Atomos is particularly dangerous because no one knows where you end up if eaten." Yusuke said as everyone, including Jorge and Koenma, who changed his look to an adult with the word 'Jr' on his forehead and a pacifier in his mouth still, listened to him. "PUU!" Yusuke's new spirit beast, Pu, said. It looked like a blue Furby with floppy ears and black hair. "Your spirit beast is so adorable." Keiko cuddling Pu, who enjoyed it.

"On the topic of beasts, you promised to show us yours, Zane." Koenma said. Zane pulled out a photo of his standing next to Wrath. "That Dragon is Wrath, my 'spirit beast'. As you can see, his head is the size of a truck. His body is very long, never measured how long." Yusuke was annoyed. "Why do you have a badass dragon while I got a furby?" He asked. Pu looked hurt at this. Zane plucked Pu from Keiko and pet him. "You have much to learn about the beast that reflect the owner's soul. Pu is but a child, as you are. Wrath was the ugliest fish ever once upon a time." Zane said getting a purr from Pu.

"What let him jump through the dragon's gate?" Keiko asked remembering the legend of the carp. "Enlightenment." Zane said plainly. "With time and effort, I became an being above mortal yet below major gods." This had some of them confused, clearly, they didn't brush up on Greek history in school. "He's a daemon, greater than demigods and sometimes called 'lesser gods' despite them not being immortal like gods are. What do they teach you brat in school these days?" Genkai said rolling her eyes.

"not enough, that's for sure." Younger Toguro said from the doorway. "I came by to tell Zane one of my teammates will displeased if you failed to fight them. They're a 'big fan' of your work, Grim Reaper." Botan was the most confused, as she was a grim reaper/ferry girl. "I don't been the 'pansy ferry girls', as my teammate calls them. I mean the Beings that Death itself hires to hunt immortals and other 'troublemakers that get on it's bad side." The Younger Toguro left them hanging with a smirk on his face as he left, closing the door softly.

'Answers please' was the look Zane got from the group's stares. Zane told them the tale of the 'first' Grim Reaper. "What kind of things can you get with the favors?" Shizuru said going to light a cigarette. Zane swiped it and gave her one that looked almost the same. "That won't kill your lungs. And to answer your question, they have a dictionary sized book of things you can't get." Zane said as she took a drag of what smelt like mint rolled up. "You smoke?" She asked. "Not tabaco. I'll admit I have smoked magical herbs to contact what I think are spirits, you can only understand if you are stoned. The shaman just laughed at me when I asked her."

"I'm not surprised but I question how you got a shaman to tell you anything that secretive. They pass the knowledge on by word of mouth to their student." Genkai said with an arched brow. "She found me interesting and I was keeping an eye of a trio of brothers she cared about. That was a doozy of an adventure." Zane said smiling, remembering the satisfaction he got from skinning that trickster in the end.

The next day

Hanging Neck Island

Hidden room in the hotel

Shiori Minamino was nursing a cup of tea as she and Atsuko Urameshi, Yusuke's alcoholic mother, had been stuck in this room watched the past match recordings for the last sixteen hours. "I guess it was the booze that was making me see demons." Atsuko said enjoying wine, and quite drunk. "Did you know your kid was demon?" She asked Shiori. "I knew he was different but he's still my son no matter what." Shiori said with complete conviction. "what worries me is why Yusuke isn't fighting in the semifinal round." They just got caught up with the matches and were watching live footage of Team Urameshi vs Team Uraotogi.

"Even without him, they're doing ok. Kwuabara got teleported twice now but they are winning." Atsuko said. "That old man is not old. His posture is all wrong." Atsuko's assessment was proven right when the 'old man' revealed to be a clown of '999 faces', as he boasted. Zane's fist shut him up and making the mothers laugh. "That is so like Zane." Shiori said. "sometimes he goes for the easiest method." Atsuko asked a question she had for a while. "It was twenty years ago. I was in college doing a course that Zane was teaching. He joked about traveling back in time to teach the class, at least I think he was joking."

"I'm not too sure about that. If demons are real, time travel might be real too." Atsuko said. Sakyo appeared on screen. "Hello ladies, I hope you enjoyed your stay so far. In two days, the finals will start, and you will be set free once it's done. By the way, this is a recording, so I won't be able to hear your responses." Sakyo's message ended and the tv turned off. "Hey, old man! Can you get us some grub?" Atsuko asked an old man with a wrapped 'stick', who nodded and left the room. "That old man reminds me of Zane a little." Shiori said. The old man returned with lunch. "stuffed porkchops prepared to your liking." The dry voice of the old man was warm. "Smells like the Laskaris seasoning blend. Wait. this isn't the secret blend. Must be one of the public spice blends people made to copy the secret blend." Shiroi stated. "Like I would let them have a Laskaris Clan secret. My sort of main self would not be happy. Allow me to introduce myself. I am The Monk, a copy of a mental aspect of Zane Laskaris that he created some years ago for project."

"So, he sent an imaginary friend to protect us? How strong are you?" Atsuko asked "solidly in the Upper B class. I don't know what's going on in Zane's head, but he called me away from teaching Lady Aura, so it must be important." The Monk grumbled as he returned to guarding the door.

The next day

Hanging Neck Island

In the woods

"The dimwit survived." Genkai said as she was a bloody Yusuke leave the cave alive. "So, he passed the final step to training?" Zane asked. "He integrated the spirit orb successfully after a painful day of total agony and got out of the cave alive, so yes he passed." Genkai said dryly. "Your 'biggest fan' sent a gift." Younger Toguro said as he tossed a box at Zane. Inside was photos of bodies and lists of crimes each victim committed. "Lovely it's one of them." Zane said annoyed. "it looks like something a fanatic would give to show their devotion." Genkai said as she looked through the photos "flawlessly clean kills every time. This is one hell of an assassin."

"The order of the Reaper, a group of Assassins that were inspired by me in the past. Their founder witnessed me on the clock as a Grim Reaper and model the group after the job, hunting immoral and immortal monsters that threaten Death's rules." Zane said looking at the names and dates. "Death let them do their thing because they are good at it. At least it's just photos this time. Some of the crazier members mailed the bodies once." Younger Toguro arched a brow. "No wonder she doesn't want to fight you, you're her greatest inspiration in life." He walks away saying "Don't disappoint me at the finals."

The next day

Hanging Neck Island

The secondary Arena

"Welcome all you humans and demons alike to the finals of the Dark Tournament!" Juri, a dark-skinned aquatic demon with a long tail and fins, yelled, smirking at Koto, who was asked to give commentary after it was decided she was bias because of her crush on Toya. "That's right, Juri. You get to be right near the action as Team Urameshi, the underdog of that fought their way to the finals, fights Team Togure, who have some of the bloodiest victories I've seen over the years." Koto said smirking back as Juri paled with fear.

"For anyone sleeping under a rock, Team Toguro consists of the Togure brothers, Bui, Karasu, and finally their fifth member, wait. That can't be right. Can I get a fact check on this?" Koto said as The Toguro Brothers walked in with a heavily armored man (Bui), a pale skinned long black-haired man wearing a black suit and a mask over his mouth (Karasu), and a non-descript woman with no feature that stood out in a crowd. "The fifth member is indeed a member of the Order of the Reaper. She gave no name or anything. She's a ghost with no records at all. That is dedication to the job, Folks." Koto said amazed. "Who knows why one of them is taking part in this event?"

Two dice, with names of the team members on them, were rolled and the first match was Karasu Vs Zane. The two fighters stepped up and Zane sighed. "Another pyro? I swear they are the moths and I am the flame." Zane said annoyed. "Oh? After I kill you, you won't have to worry about anything else ever again." Karasu said the ground cracked and Zane felt something grab his leg. A living bombs the size of tennis ball, surfaced, cackling, as it blew up. "Looks like your leg is gone…What! How are you unharmed?" Karasu raged, his cool lost.

The smoke cleared to show Zane unharmed with a blast crater where the 'Mad Bomb' had been. "Invisible living bombs? You must be a Quest Level Demon. Reminds me too much of Killer Queen." Zane said. He gripped stjörnu börn and started synchronizing with it. The match was interesting to say the least. As a Quest Level Demon, Karasu could materialize living and not living objects in his 'theme', for him it was bombs. They were sliced and dentated harmlessly or knocked into the air without harming anyone, not that most of the viewers knew what the bomb looked like.

"I have no idea what's going on but Karasu has removed his mask and his hair is golden blonde now! On top of that the runes on Zane's body have reached his heart!" Koto said as a flash of light and heat blinded everyone. "Zane has turned into a being of energy!" Koto yelled in disbelief. "Primal King's Mantle." Genkai said as she sat next to the demon cat girl. "After synchronizing with stjörnu börn, Zane has become the personification of a star." Genkai explained. "as you can see, the ground he's walking on is melting."

Zane pointed a finger at Karasu, and a pulse of heat turned him into ash, and super-heated the stone of the arena. Zane powered down as he was called the winner. "Wait a little bit for it to cool off." Zane said jumping to the ground to rest. "Lord Reaper's skill with the flame are unrivaled." The unnamed female assassin stated with great reverence. Her voice was a whisper in the wind.

The next match was Kuwabara vs Elder Toguro. Using the Darkness tool, he got from the clown Zane punched, Kuwabara was slicing up the sadistic shapeshifter but it was not getting him the win. "Spirit Tennis Racket!" Kuwabara said after kicking the part of the body he knew contained the heart and brain, his acute sense helped, this spirit sword shifted to a razer sharp racket that cubed and killed the Elder Toguro brother. "Come back from that you creep." Kuwabara said looking dead on his feet bleeding out from a lot of purposefully nonfatal shallow stab wounds.

"Can you take over, Please?" Juri asked shaking like a leaf and looking ill. "Suck it up buttercup!" Koto said 'helpfully'. "The next match will have to wait because the arena has been ruled to be too damaged to use!" Younger Toguro rolled his eyes behind his glasses an walked off without a word.

An hour later

Younger Toguro had return with Arena from the other site and kicked the exist one apart to replace it with the more intact on he carried. His fight with Yusuke destroyed and one of the sections of the stands, opening a hole to the outdoors. So, Zane wasn't sure it was worth bringing the more intact arena in the first place. "And the winner of the Dark Tournament is Team Urameshi! That final match was well worth the near death when the place started to crumble!" Koto said. Half the demons in the stands were crushed by rocks, blasted to death, or had their souls devoured by Younger Toguro.

Speaking of the muscle-bound fighter, he died because he pushed himself to the limit, yet Yusuke still had more give. "On par the rules, the winners get their wishes granted. They will meet the higher ups in private to do this later today." Koto said as Juri was in a dead faint in the arms of Jin who saved her from falling rubble. "Please leave in an orderly manner." She said as the remaining demons picked their way to the exits.

"So, Zane, what was that thing you pulled?" Yusuke asked. "That form was more powerful than Upper B class for sure." Zane chuckle tiredly. "It's more in the Upper S class. A level of power the rulers of Demon world have." This got everyone staring. "You are Upper S Class?" The deep voice of Bui asked. "You truly are a Daemon." Bui said as he left, having said all he wanted to say. "My Lord, it pleases me to have met you in person, but I must leave." The unnamed assassin said, vanishing to tell her brethren the good news.

"How heavy is this axe?" Kuwabara asked pulling on the handle as hard as he can. "You can lift a Norse magical weapon without being worthy in its eyes. That Battle-axe contains twin blue stars and was made for me specifically by the request of Thor. The chances of anyone else lifting it is slim at best." Zane still feeling the aftereffects of the mode he used. Lots of power but more he restrained the heat, that wished to burn the world and begin it a new, more drained he was exiting it. That mode was not to be used lightly, as it was easily in the planetary level destruction category when he didn't hold it back at all.

He called the weapon and stowed it away. "Can we get to the hotel, there's something you need to know." Zane said as they held him up.

Five minutes later

Hanging Neck Island

Outside the hotel

Sakyo was waiting for them with the hostages they, other than Zane, knew he had. "Mom/Mother?!" Kurama and Yusuke said shocked. "You worried me so much." Shiroi said patiently as she hugged her son what ever he wanted to call himself these days. "One hell of a fight you had." Atsuko said with a bottle of liqueur in hand. "That's her alright. Smells just like I remember." Yusuke said giving a one arm hug and she returned one in kind. "The other members of the Black Black Club ran afoul with the lady from the Order of the Reaper, leaving their wealth and power to me. What are your wishes?" Sakyo said like it was weather.

Kuwabara wished that Yukina would not be targeted again. "Easily done. Zane has all the peals she made since her capture and the fame you accumulated has made her unlikely to be attacked by demons. I will make some calls to get the humans off her trail." Was Sakyo's response. Hiei's wish was originally the death of the Black Black club so he settled on the Dark Tournament being ended for good. Sakyo had no feather need for the event, so he granted it without pause. Gankai asked for more land, just so she can have more distance with any neighbors, she is a hermit after all. This was granted but it'd take a few days to take effect.

Kurama wished to know the whereabouts of Yomi, if he was alive. "An old friend from your thieving days? He's one of the three rulers of Demon world. Who knows when you will meet him? but I can work something out." Sakyo said very interested in this wish. Yusuke didn't know what he wanted so Sakyo gave him a cut of the Black Black Clubs wealth. It was a lot of zeros in that bank account. "So, Zane, what is your wish?" Zane looked him in the eye and said "I want this island. It's nexus of a lot of laylines." Sakyo shrugged. "I was going to sell it anyways so it's all yours. That concludes the Final Dark Tournament, have a nice day." Sakyo walks away to pursue his real goal, opening a permeant demon portal because he can.

"the old guy vanished like ten minutes ago." Atsuko said leaning on her son. "Said something about needing to get back to teaching Lady Aura or whatever." Kurama was worried as he asked, "So you know now?" Shiroi hugged him again. "You will always be my son even if you are the legendary sliver fox demon thief Kurama." She said voice full of motherly love. "Zane has told me a lot of legendary figures in history, including the demon ones." She was inerturpted as Zane was swarmed by pipe foxes. "Calm down! I'm fine!" Zane said under the mountain of furry bodies.

"That is a lot of pipe foxes. And they clearly care for him." Hiei said amused as the pipe foxes searched every inch of Zane for injury. Finding none they promptly turn to Kurama and greeted him like a fellow fox. Shiroi laughed as she too was greeted. No one was spared being checked over and greeted by the Pipe Foxes. The girls found them adorable and were more than happy to feed the horde star candies.

"These are my eyes and ears. No one notices them and they at loyal to my family." Zane said as they sat outside on the grass. "Do they all have names?" Botan asked. "Yes, but not in any tongue you'd understand. Kurama might but that's because he's a fox." Zane said as the pipe foxes make a collection odd noises that was their names. "I see thank you for telling me all your names." Kurama said. It was a peaceful way to unwind after the tournament. Kuwabara got put through the ringer a week later for his screw up, but had it coming. Zane returned them home and departed because a Reaper Task. A parasite had taken advantage of a race of monks to revive himself after being mostly killed almost a thousand years ago. If Death put 'Extreme Priority' at the top of the thing, then Zane had to deal with it before a world was altered on a fundamental level.

A month later

World of the Soul King

Soul King's Palace

Ōetsu Nimaiya's City

Zane was currently learning some bladesmith skills from the 'God of Sword' Ōetsu Nimaiya on his layer of the Palace. The Soul King's Palace was above the Soul Society consisted of multiple 'layers' that were very far apart from each other but always being higher up, meaning you'd have to fly or jump to get the next 'layer'. Ōetsu Nimaiya was a dark-skinned man with a fluffy black hair with the sides shaved and dyed green. He looked thin but his bare arms were solid muscle. He wore a black outer grab with a white under robe and had glasses on to look 'cool'. The white vest like jacket he had set a side was apparently what Shinigami capation wore. The symbol, a diamond with four four-petaled 'flowers' in it, meant he was one of the Royal Guard, aka the Zero Squad.

This blade is amazing for a mortal blade. The Craftmanship is artwork that can slice a lot of things. You most likely enhance the blade with your energy and the sheathe allows the blade to exit and leave it like it isn't there." Ōetsu said examining Callisthenes and marveled as the kopis moved into the sheathe via the side of it. The metal seemed to part letting the blade be sheathed despite the odd shape of the blade. "After I adopted my eldest daughter, I needed a way to keep the sharp edges from small fingers." Zane explained.

"I'm impressed. You are a Master Blacksmith, but not at my level yet." Ōetsu with pride. Zane understood the oddities Ōetsu. Stronger you were more likely you had a weird personality quirk. Ōetsu lived in a shack on a barren cliffside surrounded by women that were zanpakuto, living swords with 'spirits' typically, but not always, having humanish appearances. "This battle-axe on the other hand." Ōetsu fails utterly to lift it. "Is a weapon that scares the hell out of me. I don't know how the maker did it, but it is more powerful than the strongest fire based zanpakuto ever to exist, and that's saying something." Ōetsu is the creator of all zanpakuto and he doesn't scare easy.

Zane explained the system Noble Phantasm used to show how many it would hit. When he revealed the that Primal King's Mantle was Anti-World on that scale, Ōetsu was totally speechless as his shades slide a little. "I'm back with food." Mera Hiuchigashima, a slender young red head girl, said setting down bags of food. She was a zanpakuto spirit and was unafraid to kick her creator in the head when he does stupid things, like standing slack jawed. "I said I had food you moron!" She yelled kicking Ōetsu. "You can gawk at his weapons at other time." Mera said annoyed. "Zane, never go all out with that weapon. It would destabilize the realms of this world." Ōetsu deathly calm.

"I know that. I already got yelled at by a cosmic entity about it." Zane said remembering the time Madame Webb yelled at him for almost killing himself the first time he used the form. As if on cue, Zane felt time slow for him as his soul was dragged out into The Web.

The Web

"Hello again Zane." The silver haired woman, in a red dress with eyes hidden behind red spectacles, said warmly. Zane looked at the threads around him and noticed the members of the spider verse he met didn't look more than a few years older. "Cassandra, how long has it been of the other spider people?" Zane asked using Madame Webb's first name. She smiled and steeped her hands amused "two or three years, it fluctuates depending on who exactly you are asking about. Out of all the spiders, you are odd to say the least. You use a magical item to web. You have a lot of silk from the most amusing beings." She listed other things before finishing with, "You are the black sheep of the spider family and that why I'm checking in on you."

"That is the nicest thing you've told me of the three time we met. The first time was just to say hi and called me the 'adopted spider' of the family. Then next time was to chew me out for like an hour. I swear you're the Spidermom of this giant family." Zane snarked halfheartedly. "And you are reckless child that gets in all the trouble." Madame Webb answered smiling. "You fought an army of Quincy, I believe you call them, severing the strings the parasite had on their souls. You could have just killed them, but you didn't. I don't enjoy seeing you being a pin cushion just so you can save enthralled people from their 'lord and savior'." She deadpanned. "On a happier note, they now are your newest followers oh Monk of Wrath and Sorrow." She said with smirk and sending him back to his body.

No time had passed

World of the Soul King

Soul King's Palace

Ōetsu Nimaiya's City

"I hate when she does that." Zane grumbled. "Who do what?" Mera asked. "A being that sits out of reality who 'adopted' me into her 'spider family' as I call it. That's the third time she contacted me without any warning." Zane said all to calm in her opinion. "Do you have any idea how bad it sounds coming from a guy that was dropped at the 'front door' of the Soul King's Palace bleeding out from more puncture wounds than a hedgehog has spines?" Mera asked annoyed "Tenjirō Kirinji, the hot spring demon, had to use his strongest hot spring treatment to heal your sorry ass!" Mera berated Zane.

"I'm sorry but I had to get past the thralls of the parasite that named himself Yhwach, talk about major egomania." Zane snarked back. "You killed who?" Ōetsu asked breaking out the fight. "He's dead for good this time. Death didn't take any chances and sent the best Grim Reaper on their payroll." Zane said with a small touch of pride for his work. "I need to have a meeting with the other captains of the Royal Guard." Ōetsu said, using shunpo (It means Flash Step) to go a lot faster.

"I have no idea who the parasite was, but he was dangerous enough that they pulled rank and made me drop everything to do the job." Zane said as he looked at the grub she brought. "Looks like I can make a good with this. Got any pots around here?" She brought him a tall pot and Zane got to work.

An hour later

World of the Soul King

Soul King's Palace

Ōetsu Nimaiya's City

"You're back. There's more than enough for the three of us." Zane said as Ōetsu returned. Four more people appeared using shunpo. Tenjirō Kirinji, a lanky man with a long black pompadour chewing on a stick. Senjumaru Shutara, a youthful black-haired woman with a crescent moon head piece and four spidery arms that extended from her back. Kirio Hikifune, a plump purple-haired woman who was at the pot in an instant inspecting it with the air of a chef. And the super monk himself, Ichibē Hyōsube, a mountain of a bald man with a large black beard framing his toothy grin and a necklace of giant red beads around his neck. "I hope you have enough for four more people." Ichibē said in a booming voice. "I was expecting you guys. With some bread the stew can be a small lunch at best for the seven of us." Zane said stirring the food, tasting it then adding a pinch of salt.

"You killed the Quincy King? I find that highly unlikely." Senjumaru said intrigued with an air of snobbish. "He was a parasite using them as batteries. That is one of the most scumbag ways of kingship I've seen." Zane said with disgusted look. "As for proof." Zane said as he turned to his reaper form with the addition of an apron on. It said, 'don't mess with the cook'. "This should be sufficient." He stated an tasted the food. "Mmm. Perfect, food's ready." Zane's voice in this form didn't help them trust his food so he let go of the power of Death, returning to normal form.

"It's not poisoned. I killed last five people that made food for the sole purpose of killing their target." Zane said dead serious. Hikifune was already eating so they gave it a shot. "for normal food this is quite filling. Gives you enough energy to last a long day in the forge." Hikifune said approvingly. "You are just like Ōetsu, a blacksmith that works longs hours at a time, not stopping even to eat." Zane laughed at this. "You are spot on lady. Sometimes It's weeks in the forge without eating or sleeping. Mainly because of so many orders coming in at the same time."

Ōetsu grinned. "I know your pain. Sometimes I feel I get swamped with orders because they can. But can it stop us? No, we complete the orders in record time, and everything is top notch quality." He said as he pats Zane's shoulder.

"Let's get to the brass tacks, what happened to the Quincy he gave his power too?" Ichibē asked. "When I severed the parasite's connection to the Sternritter (German for 'Star Knights' aka the elites of the Quincy forces), I rewrote the powers as their own, not power they held for a time. I effectively removed any anchors the parasite had to prevent his death." Zane explained. "there was a small side effect that Death planned to happen." Zane admitted.

"The fact all Quincies no longer destroy the hollow's soul but purifies them like a zanpakuto does?" Senjumaru asked. "It was the cause of the war with the Quincy in the first place. The Soul King wishes to 'speak' with you. After all you killed his son. He was a bad apple but still his son in the end." Senjumaru said offhandedly.

Ten minutes later

World of the Soul King

Soul King's Palace

Greater Soul King Palace

Zane was in the highest 'layer' of the Palace, a cylinder building that housed the Soul King. "You are not what I expected." Zane said to the Soul King. The Soul King was limbless body with weird eyes and slicked back black hair inside of a crystal that floated off the ground in the throne room. "Wait you aren't mad I killed your son?" Zane asked surprised as the Soul King 'talked' to him. Turns out, he was the lynchpin that kept this world's plains and flow of souls stable. In a sense he was 'keyhole' and 'Heart' of this world rolled into one. "As a Keyblade Master I need to ask this. "May I seal the Keyhole to this world? It will help stabilize it somewhat and keep the heartless from taking the heart of this world." Zane asked.

"You saw this coming? Can you predict the future like a prophecy or is it seeing all the possible outcomes at once?" Zane asked as he brought out his keyblade. A floating keyhole appeared as Zane locked it with a beam of light from the tip of the keyblade. "Ah, all possibility sight. That is comforting to know." Zane said dismissing his keyblade. "You want me to explain to the Shingami that the Quincy are no longer a threat? Oh boy, that will be a pain with the history of bad blood between them." Zane said dreading the confutation. "It is not going to be easy as uniting the Digimon or the heartless was. For one, they ether wanted to join me or in the case of the Digimon, Feared/respected the seven great demon lords." Zane retorted. "You are giving me your seal as proof it's truth? That will help a lot." Zane said with a sigh, resigned.

The next thing Zane 'heard made him stumble as he turned to leave. He spun around and poked the Soul King at chest level. "I refuse! You can't make me a Royal Guard on the spot! I already have too many hats as it is!" Zane said as he jabbed the crystal, makes a chiming sound with each poke. The 'reply' stopped him cold. "I don't need to guard you. Just help with issues here and there, rarely be your messenger. Ok, that's fair." Zane said then was hit with pain as a Ōken, kings key, was inscribed into his body. Every bone and hair in his body was now the 'key' to getting into the Soul Kin's Palace.

"That was painful. If I make something from my body parts without intends of it being a Ōken will it not be a Ōken?" Zane asked. "Oh good. It's all about intent. 'Go see Senjumaru for my uniform.'? Should have known there was a dress code." Zane grumbled.

An hour later

World of the Soul King

Soul King's Palace

Senjumaru Shutara's City

Zane stood on a wood block nude as Senjumaru's mechanical arms measured him top to bottom. The room he was in was full of bolts of fabric in every color and patten there was. "With you running the messages, we would get yelled at for 'not helping' them solve their own issues." Senjumaru commented as he finished measuring and moved not to finding the right fabrics for Zane's uniform. "You'll get the standard black Shihakushō (Garment of the dead) …" She started to list all the parts of the uniform as Zane's eye twitched annoyed. ".. your white haori can be customized a little if you wish." She final finished talking. "Can you put some fur on it like my Reaper Form has on the shoulders?" Zane asked. Senjumaru thinks about before saying, "Workable. You may put on some clothes while I make the uniform. Keep in mind these are Ōken clothing." Senjumaru said.

Zane got dressed quickly. "So, you collected bone and hair for while to get this much stored up." Zane said, making small talk. "I have means of making it go faster but it does take time. It just like with spider silk, there only so much you can get at a time. Speaking of silk, you have some clothing made of a silk I've never encountered. Where did you get it?" Zane explain each of the sources of silk Zane used. "Interesting. Never imagined 'digital' silk would be better than real silk." She said. "Your 'riding leather' is also impressive but too rebellious for this job. I imagine you wore a Quincy uniform to infiltrate the base, hence why you almost died. Their uniform lacks protection compared to your normal clothes."

"Yeah, it's just cotton-based cloth and a lot of pride from the one who made it. Stole it from a Quincy from Karakura Town in the human world. He had a dozen of them in his closet. Used a little magic to alter it because it was too small for me." Zane said.

An hour later

World of the Soul King

Soul King's Palace

Vestibule-Road, the 'front door' of the palace.

"Given you aren't in a hurry, you can take the stairs." Ichibē said as a long sprilaing staircase appeared, leading down to the Soul Society below. "It will take a week to walk it or a day if you rush it." Ichibē explained. Zane, in his uniform, was doing some calculations. His strew sandals made little notice as he had a running start, diving down the opening of the spiral. Ichibē stared for a movement the laughed boomingly. "or you can jump down. Happy landing, Zane!" He yelled down to the falling Zane.

20 hours later

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei (Court of Pure Souls)

11th Division HQ

Zane landed perfectly as the Shinigami around him were blown into the walls as gale force wind ripped out from the impact site. That was no crater but the Shinigami, mostly unseated members and some seated officers, were smashed into the walls and building. "Hey, where is the head of the Gotei 13? I've got a message for him." Zane asked. "This is the 11th Division, you are looking for the First Division." A tall man wearing an eye said as the bells on his spiked hair tinkled with his moment. He stepped out of the building and Zane saw he was a captain and had a pink haired little girl hanging off him. "You are wearing the uniform of the Zero Squad so you must be strong. My name is Kenpachi Zeraki, care for a fight?" Kenpachi said with grin.

"Kenny! He has to get the message to Gramps, or the fight will be interrupted!" The little girl said "You're right, Yachiru. It'd be annoying if the fight gets stopped for some reason like that." Kenpachi wondered what to do. "Everyone was blasted into the walls and I don't want to take him to Gramps." Kenpachi mused. "Captain Zeraki, what happened?" A red-haired tattooed man, with his hair long like a pineapple and wearing a white headband, asked as he appeared on the outer wall via shunpo. "Lieutenant Renji Abarai, I've got a job for you." Kenpachi said with a grin. Renji, Lieutenant of the 6th Division, paled as Yachiru, who turned out to be Kenpachi's lieutenant, mirrored Kenpachi's grin.

Ten minutes later

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei

1st Division HQ

"I can't believe he roped me into guiding you here, I have an errand from Captain Kuchiki to deal with." Renji grumbled. Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji's captain and head of the Kuchiki clan, one of the noble houses. "Would you prefer he led me here? From what you said, the two of them have no sense of direction and don't stop for things like walls, doors, or people." Zane stated. Renji paled again "we just finished fixing things after the invasion/rescue Ichigo pulled." Renji said as a silver-gray haired man wearing a badge that marked his as the lieutenant of the 1st Division walked up to them. "This is lieutenant Chōjirō Tadaoki Sasakibe." Renji said to before turning to Chōjirō stating "This man wishes to speah to the Head Captain. He's from the Zero Division." Chōjirō nodded told Zane to follow him.

In no time they were at a door. "Enter." An ancient but still strong voice said from within. The entered a room with an open bocony that had a view of the Seireitei opposite the door. Chōjirō left Zane with the only person in the room. A bald old man with a white braided beard that reached his waist. He has an 'x' scar on his head and had a cane that screamed power to Zane's senses. The owner of the crane was just as dangerous to Zane's senses. Head Captain Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the one that 'killed' the parasite almost a thousand years ago.

"What news does the Royal Guard bring?" He asked is a voice that demanded complete respect and truthfulness. "I have bad news, god news and better news. What do you want to hear first?" Zane asked. "Start with the bad. It's not like having three captains turning traitor a few weeks ago isn't a big deal." Yamamoto stated annoyed. "Ok, the Quincy were amassing an army with the parasite with a god complex at the helm." Zane started. "WHAT!" Yamamoto roared in shock and anger as the heat rose. "Good news is that the parasite was killed for good before he got all his power back." Zane said quickly before anything started to burn.

"Explain." Yamamoto said glaring. "As you are aware, above the Soul King is The Council of Death. They sent me, their best Grim Reaper to deal with the issue, it worked well and that brings me to the better news. As an intended side effect, Quincy weapons act more like Zanpakuto when it comes to killing hollows." Zane explained as the heat returned to normal. "As a result, the flow of souls will not be threated, and the Quincy won't be hunted again." Yamamoto said intrigued. "That sums it up. The Soul King made me the messenger between the Royal Guard and you. Hurt like hell to get the key but that's life." Zane sighed.

"We are currently in a crisis. Aizen and his cohorts have turned traitor. They stole a dangerous object and holed themselves on in Hueco Mundo, the land of the hollows. Will you add use int the coming conflict?" Yamamoto said with hope hidden in his tone. "Sure. I don't mind lending a hand." Zane said with a shrug. "I am grateful for what aid you can provide. I need to call the Captains' meeting to inform everyone." Yamamoto stated.

An hour later

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei

1st Division HQ

"You will be staying at the 10th Division as Captain Hitsugaya is going to be the leader of the strike team when the rest of the members are selected." Yamamoto said as a short white haired 'kid' with turquoise eyes looked at Zane with a gaze that was guarded. "Tōshirō Hitsugaya, wielder of the strongest ice and snow zanpakuto and a prodigy according to your peers." Zane said. "That's Captain Hitsugaya." Captain Hitsugaya said with a chilly retort. "The problem with prodigies is that they tend to have 'problems' in some way. How stressed are you?" Zane asked. Captain Hitsugaya sighed. "The paperwork gets mile high when Rangiku Matsumoto, my lieutenant drinks on the job, so about half the time. What's your point?" He said.

"If you are going to being fighting you need a break. Take a day off while I have a chat with this 'Rangiku'. I will get her to do the paperwork before getting drunk from now on." Zane said. "He has a lot knowledge of psychology so he might be about to straighten her out." Yamamoto said looking at a list of skills Zane possessed, far from complete but it was impressive. Captain Hitsugaya looked at Zane sharply. "How well can you deal with someone who was betrayed by someone they trusted completely?" He asked. "How bad was the betrayal?" Zane asked.

"Aizen used Momo and tied to kill her as a means to get the upper hand." Captain Hitsugaya said knuckles white as the temperature in Yamamoto's office dropped. "One of those kinds of people. I know all too well. Before we let anyone head for the human world, I need to remove the 'spell' planted on you guys. Most of the people I passed had it on them." Zane said having a good idea with it did. "You can remove the effects of Aizen's zanpakuto?" Captain Hitsugaya asked surprised. "It's will be tricky, but I can be done." Zane said before adding "Have everyone you know is affected come to the 4th Division for a 'mandatory health exam', it will keep Aizen in the dark."

"Less people that know the better it will work." Captain Hitsugaya said realizing what Zane meant. "Information is everything in war. Too much or too little can ruin chances of winning. That's why the captains were only told you were from Zero Division and the fact Quincy no longer upset the flow of souls for unknown reasons." Captain Hitsugaya had a small smile and his eyes were brighter as hope had returned.

Two weeks later

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei

10th Division HQ

It took about ten days to round up everyone effected and use Esunaga on them in large groups at a time. Aizen's 'total Hypnosis' turn out to be a curse/debuff in the eyes of the white magic Zane cast. Captain Retsu Unohana of the 4th Division was not pleased to have to treat most of 11th Division, again, this time because of Zane, and was quite annoyed when Zane and brought a bruised and battered Kenpachi from the slugfest the two had. Unohana looked like the nicest person you ever met with her long black hair braided in front of her chest, but she got displeased, or worse, she had this aura of doom and her smile didn't change as she questioned you politely.

"That concludes my report why I have to help the 4th Division for the next week." Zane told Captain Hitsugaya, standing in front of his desk. "luckily it's just bruising, and he will be healed up I a day or two." Captain Hitsugaya sighed. "On top of that, you got my Lieutenant to do her work for once, so I will let this slide." The busty reddish blonde haired Rangiku Matsumoto pouted at this. "I don't see why when he gets in trouble you let off, but you holler at me all the time?" Rangiku complained. "You slack off and he had to fight Kenpachi." Captain Hitsugaya stated. "Besides he isn't under my command. He's just on 'loan' to help us with Aizen."

Rangiku was very interested now. "What is the 'Zero division'?" Zane answered her question. "They are called the Royal Guard, but the reason you guys call them 'Zero Division' is because they are ranked higher than the Head Captain. I can imagine you have an idea what they do." All captains had the option of letting the lieutenants know of the Soul King. "They guard the king and nothing else." Rangiku guessed. "Exactly. The best of the best is chosen to protect the Soul King. I, on the other hand, do not have that job. They can't come down here every time they have something important to say so I was hired to be the messenger and provide aid so you guy can't say they aren't helping you."

"when put it like that, you make it sound like you were an afterthought." Rangiu pointed out. "It's thankless job, one of many I have, and helping you guys was something I tacked on myself. The Soul King won't mind." Zane said with a shrug as he left to help clean the expansive sewer system as 'punishment detail'.

A six days later

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei

In the Sewers

The sewers were a massive maze of paths you could have an army travel. The paths were about five people wide on either side of the water and 20 meters tall give or take. With Zane was Hanatarō Yamada, 7th Seat of the 4th Division. Hanatarō was a short and not much a fighter with black flat hair and a little bit of a klutz. But Zane noticed how much he cared about others. They were currently checking for anything that shouldn't be here. "Are we looking for rats or something?" Zane asked Hanatarō, as he blasted dog sized mutated rats and collected the bodies on par R and D's wishes. "Most of the time it worse than oversized rats." Hanatarō said cheerfully. "Captain Kurotsuchi of 12th Division has a habit of losing test subjects and he sends us to subdue it alive so he can test on it farther." Mayuri Kurotsuchi was mad scientist that wore make up and weird outfits. He also was insane and sadistic. They had been searching the sewers for six days now to hunt down a 'few lost rats' as they were told. They could kill them if the body was intact for him to study.

"That is two hundredth rat we killed. Ether he downplayed the number, or they are multiplying." Zane stated annoyed. "I don't know how many more snake fanged frog legged rats I want to face down here." Zane said as it dawned on him. "We need to get out of here now!" He said ungently, grabbing Hanatarō and jumping up the nearest ladder.

A few hours later

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei

12th Division HQ

Research and Development

"You are saying the rats changed gender and started to breed?" Mayuri said condescendingly "They are all female rats that escaped and there are incompatible with any other creature I made sure of that." Zane flip a rat corpse over, and it was clearly male. "Frogs can and have switch genders when there is no one to breed with. You snake frog rats are breeding as we speak. I found egg remains as well." Zane presented the leathery egg remains. The clown took it and scanned it. On the organic looking computer was two DNA strands. One from the egg and one from the few rats that didn't escape.

"Fascinating they adapted to lay snake like eggs and can switch genders as needed." Mayuri grinned. "Nemu, we much deal with the rats ourselves." He snapped at his lieutenant Nemu, an artificial being he created. She had short black hair and a blank look on her face. "I must thank you for this wonderful information. We are still doing tests on the arm you donated for testing. Your biology is very interesting." He was referring to an arm that Zane lost, a new one grew back, some time ago and kept in case he needed it. "I'm glad to be of service to progressing your research." Zane said dryly. Mayuri grin was not comforting "I will unravel your regeneration one day." Mayuri said as he left for the sewers.

Akon, a black lightly spikey hair man with three small horns on his forehead wearing a lab coat over his uniform, sighed. He was the third seat of this division. "I'll get your payment for you." Akon said. "This is not too unexpected. He experiments and something goes 'odd' for lack of a better term. He was in the Nest of Maggots' deepest level for a reason." The Nest of Maggots, the insane asylum that had a 'no weapon' policy. Akon was also from there, but he wasn't as bad as Mayuri who was confined in the lowest levels to rot alone in the darkness.

"What was the intent behind this one?" Zane asked. "Let's see. 'Chimera research' from the looks of it. One of his broader projects he tinkers with." Akon said after looking it up. He gives Zane a bag of currency. "this covers hazard pay as well. Half is yours and the other half is for seventh seat officer Hanatarō." Akon stated before returning to his work. Zane saw himself out.

The next day

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

Seireitei

10th Division HQ

"That's why he's sleeping right now." Rangiku explained to Captain Hitsugaya about the rats. Zane had fallen asleep on the couch as soon as he got back to here. "That makes all too much sense for my liking and sanity. There was reports of something trying and failing to get out of the ground all over the Seireitei for the last few days. The sightings line up with the places you can enter the sewer system." Captain Hitsugaya stated showing her two maps. "That means that the rats aren't strong enough to lift the sewer covers. To be fair, they are made of a heavy stone. The question is, what are they eating?" Rangiku puzzled.

"That is a good question. Of the six test subjects that escaped the lab, only three were recovered, dead. According to this memo from R and D, the original rats had trackers implanted to keep track of who's who." Captain Hitsugaya said trying to find a patten to the rats escape attempts. "They are eating anything including their own kind." Suì-Fēng, captain the 2nd Division and head of the Onmitsukidō (The covert force unit), said, sounding angry. Suì-Fēng was a petite woman with black hair in two long cloth covered braids that ended with golden rings. "I lost a dozen men locating the nest. Mayuri is dealing with the issue as we speak." Suì-Fēng growled.

"Then why are you here?" Captain Hitsugaya asked his fellow captain. "To inform you it was the rat that broke free on their own. Aizen had them as a backup plan to be a distraction, complete with a food source ready for the rats to feat on." She spat and threw down a report on the desk. Captain Hitsugaya's eyes widened as he read it, once, twice, then thrice to be sure he read it right. "how many?" He asked. "too many. All of them likely from the Rukongai, based on the torn fabric." Suì-Fēng said a voice that was colder than winter. "We searched for anymore 'surprises' he may have left behind and located hidden cashes that were 'illuminating' to say the least."

Meanwhile

World of the Soul King

Soul Society

West Rukongai near the west gate

"What the hell do you want?" Kūkaku Shiba, a youthful woman with black hair, covered partially by a white stripe of cloth, glaring green eyes, a provocative red outfit that showed off her figure, a wooden prosthetic right arm and a tattoo on her left arm that was holding a thin pipe. They were meeting at here instead of her home because they didn't what to make an enemy out of her. "We've uncovered proof that, with a shadow of a doubt, Aizen orchestrated your brother and his wife's death." Shunsui Kyōraku, Captain of the 8th Division, said taking his straw hat off and holding it to his chest in apology for it taking this long to uncover this information. He had scruffy face and black hair in a ponytail. He was also wearing a pink flowery kimono over his uniform.

"Well, he sure loves to cause maximum misery, doesn't he?" Kūkaku said her anger shifted to someone else. "How did he make Rukia Kuchiki kill Kaien?" She demanded. "He released a modified hollow that hijack his wife's body, killing her squad mates, then her. Then it jumped to Kaien's body, attacking Rukia. The rest you know." Shunsui said grimly. "Then we can expect more modified hollows in his army." Kūkaku stated as she stood up. "Thank you for informing me, I know Central 46 would bury this in an instant if you were still around." She left Shunsui with his thoughts. Central 46 was yet to be replaced and wouldn't be for a few more weeks. Now was the perfect time to make some needed changes. Like lifting some punishments from a hundred years ago.

A week later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

Kurosaki Clinic

The first sign of trouble was when Ichigo was shocked by the doorknob. "What the hell, Goat chin! Why did you prank the door?" The orange-haired teenager said yelling at his scruffy chinned black-haired father, Isshin Kurosaki, starting argument that has his twin sisters sighing. They had just finished breakfast and the kids were heading for school. Yuzu took after her more with short light brown hair and a kind personality. After their mother died, she took the role of cooking and cleaning. "Please stop fighting. I opened the door five minutes ago and Dad hasn't left this his seat in the last hour." Yuzu scolded them wagging the wooden spoon.

"Ahh! What the hell? The door shocked me!" Karin, Yuzu's gloomier black hair twin yelled as she checked the front door herself. "Karin! Are you injured?" Ichigo asked looking at the hand that got shocked. "No, but somethings not right." She said a lettering appeared on the door. "'The Truth will set you free'" Ichigo read. "What kind of philosophical garbage is that?" He yelled kicking the door. He was thrown into the opposite wall, smoking from the painful zap he got for his troubles.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Zane said as he descended the stairs with Kon, a mod soul stuff in a plushy lion, in one hand with tape on his mouth and a black cat in a runic cage in the other. "Isshin Shiba, you are looking quite lively for a man deemed KIA (Killed in Action)." Zane said as everyone tensed. "Goat Chin, do you know about the Gotei 13?" Ichigo demanded getting to his feet. He felt like he was thrashed by Kenpachi after that kick. "He's the former captain of the 10th Division before he 'died' fighting a modified hollow with aid from a Quincy by the name of Masaki." Zane said as reality came crashing down for Ichigo and his younger sisters.

"What do you want? Why is a member of the Royal Guard even here?" Isshin said putting aside his goofy and fun-loving persona. "For one, to tell the full truth and ask Ichigo something." Zane looks at the cat in the cages saying, "Miss. Yoruichi here refuses to tell me where the vizoreds are. She also refuses to believe that her and her allies' punishments has been lifted by order of the Soul King. Not even the blowhards of Central 46 can overturn that." Zane comments. "It's rather unbelievable when you think about it." Yoruichi in a male voice her cat form had.

"That's why you attack me and caged you. Shall we sit and talk thing out?" Zane said grabbing a fifth chair and setting the cage in the middle of the table. I assume you are all aware of hollows and Shinigami." Zane started. "For those who don't know what a Quincy is, they are empowered humans that, until recently, destroyed the soul of the hollow they killed." Zane explained. "I will elaborate what I mean when I get to that part." Zane added cutting Ichigo off.

"If dad's a Shinigami and mom was a Quincy, what does that make us?" Karin asked, "Oddities that have shaken the status quo just by living your lives." Zane said with a laugh. "Now as Ichigo knows from Rukia's rescue, there is 13 divisions to the Gotei 13. What he doesn't know is that over them is the Royal Guard or 'Zero Division' that protects the Soul King. It's above your paygrade so that's all I'll tell you." They nodded as he explained the events that happened leading up to present day. Then he dropped a big piece of information. "The one who caused your mother's power to fail on the day Grand Fisher attacked was the being known as the 'Quincy King'." Ichigo was anger he punched the table in half, sending Yoruichi rolling away. "Where is he?" Ichigo demanded. "Dead by my hand. And that is why Quincy no longer destroy hollow souls." Zane said as Ichigo stared. Deep in Ichigo's soul some other beings were shocked at this news.

"And that my half of the truth. Tell me where to find the vizoreds and you will be set free." Zane said putting the ball in Ichigo's court. "Fine I take you to them. I was head there anyways." Ichigo said as a bell sounds echoed. The words on the door shattered and the barrier fell. Yoruichi was freed and even the tape on Kon's mouth vanished. "That was a risky move, Ichigo." Yoruichi said glaring lightly at Zane for caging her. "Come Ichigo, I've got some pardons to deliver." Zane said then vanished into Ichigo's shadow. "Don't say anything, Yoruichi." Zane's voice echoed from where he hid.

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

Warehouse district

Ichigo was let into the Visoreds hide out to get more training for his hollow powers from them. Shinji Hirako, a straight blonde-haired man who tended to show off his teeth. Rose, a curly blonde-haired man with ruffles on his clothes. Love, a green track suit and blue google wearing man with a back star shaped afro. Kensei Muguruma, a short silver haired man who preferred to leave his arms bare and was twirling a knife when waiting. Hacchi, a large rotund man in an olive-green suit and had pink hair and mustashe with black crossbones pattern on his head. Lisa Yadōmaru, a bored and young-looking black-haired woman with wearing a Japanese schoolgirl outfit, who read swimsuit megs a lot. Hiyori Sarugaki, a short female with blonde hair in two frizzy pig tails, a snaggle tooth, and an even shorter temper. And finally, Mashiro, a bubbly green hair young woman with hazel eyes and wearing an outfit (blue googles orange gloves boots and scarf white tracksuit) that looked like something a superhero would wear.

"You're late, Ichigo. What was the hold up?" Shinji said with drawl. Ichigo's shadow wrapped as it took the shape of Zane. "Greetings Former-exiled Visoreds. I'm pleased to inform you your punishment has been lifted by order of the Soul King." Zane's voice echoed in as they stopped preparing to attack the 'intruder'. "Who are you?" Kensei asked as Zane 'stepped' out of the shadow. Hacchi gasped as he noted the symbol on Zane's captain's uniform. Shinji got behind Zane to get a better look. His eyes widened but he was silent for a moment. "He's with the Zero Division." Shinji said as he opened the when to the training room. "Come on Ichigo. We need to get your training going." He said walking down the steps into the large 'room' that look like a sunny wasteland, but it was underground.

"Hacchi, you explain this mess." Shinji said passing the responsibility. He was still hit by Hiyori's thrown sandal. "What the hell are you doing? We can't just let anyone in here!" She ranted. "He's a Royal Guard. They are above Central 46." Hacchi stated getting their attention. "So, he's telling the truth?" Love asked. "Without a doubt." Hacchi said nodding. "I pulled some stings with the Soul King and got you lot pardoned a long with some others." Zane said. "The catch is I have to asked if you want to help us kick Aizen to the curb as we all hate Aizen for the crap he pulled."

"That's it? Team up with the Gotei 13 to take down Aizen and you won't mind if we never return?" Shinji asked. "That's all we ask. We know you dislike the old Central 46, who Aizen slaughtered." Shinji talked with the rest of them before returning to say, "You got yourself a deal." Zane left to talk to the last two people on his list, Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi.

Ten minutes later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

Urahara Shop

In an out of the way alloy was a 'candy shop' Kisuke Urahara used as his home base. A red-haired human kid was swinging a broom like it was a bat then rubbing his knuckles painfully into pigtailed black-haired girl, about the same age as him, into her head when she told him he should be sweeping as 'Mr. Tessai' asked him to do. Zane zoomed behind the kid and gripped his wrist and lifting him up to eye level. "I'd leave her alone, brat." He said softly. "Tessai! There's a Captain here!" the kid, Zane learned was Jinta, yelled. The girl Ururu bowed in thanks and greeted him. "Welcome to Urahara Shop."

"Well, I didn't expect to meet the newest member of the Royal Guard." A blonde-haired man wearing a green jacket, a green and white striped bucket hat, wooden clogs and had an opened fan in front of his face. This was Kisuke Urahara, founder of the R and D institute Mayuri was currently running. Next to him was a tall dark-skinned man with corn rowed black hair a thin mustache and rectangle glasses percent on his face. He was wearing a typical shop keeper's outfit. Tessai, the founder captain of Kidō Corps (The shinigami's version of magic).

"A cat told me we are pardoned by the Soul King." Kisuke said in a joking tone. "She was not pleased being caged like that." He continued fanning himself. "Come inside and we'll talk over tea." Zane dropped Jinta and walked in. In no time Tessai had two cups of tea ready and they sat at the low table, after taking their shoes off at the threshold as was custom in japan.

"You are here a week before the strike team, right?" He asked Zane. "That's right. I was sent to see if they were more willing to listen to me if I came alone and it worked. We have the Visoreds on board and some allies that might be willing to help in a pitch." Zane said with smirk. "You mean the Quincy you freed, wherever they are hiding." Kisuke said impressed at how well they hid themselves for so long. "Have you told Ishida family? There's only two of them left but they have a right to know. Did you know saved one of them from losing their power when you killed the 'king'? The power surge affected him, preventing him from losing it completely, just dangerously low for a time."

"Right, I stole a Qunicy uniform from Uryū Ishida to go undercover. It got shredded in the hail of projectiles I got hit with." Zane said outloud. Kisuke started laughing for some reason. "What's so funny?" Zane asked. "Uryū swore he'd make the person who stole from him sew him a new one from scratch." Kisuke said in amusement. "Jokes on you. I've got one right here." Zane said showing him a replacement outfit that was the same down to the tiniest stich. "This isn't the same material or thread. It's silk but not? Can I have a sample?" Kisuke asked after inspecting the outfit. Zane wordlessly handed over a spool of silk thread and bolts of silk. "Thank you very much." Kisuke said happily. "Now how did you going into Ichigo's shadow?" He asked Zane. Zane explained it was one of the benefits he got from 'Wrath', without explaining who that was.

Ten minutes later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

Karakura Hospital

"You did what?" Ryūken Ishida, a white-haired man with frameless glasses and a doctor's uniform, said with an incredulous look on his normally blank face. "I stole a Quincy uniform from Uryū to infiltrate the Quincy hideout then killed the 'King'. Oh, here's the replacement." Zane hands Uryū the silk Quincy uniform he made. Uryū, who looked like a teenage black-haired version of his father but in his school uniform, took it and examined it stich by stich. "This is stronger than the old material. I am willing to make a deal for more of it." Uryū requested, impressed by the silk.

Zane explained again what happened at the Quincy hideout, what the 'Quincy King' did to revive himself, and how he was mustering forces to face Aizen. "I refuse." Ryūken said flatly. "It's great you avenged my family but I'm not fighting any war for any reason." Uryū looked annoyed but respected his father's choice. "That's fine. Can I trust you to be on call to help with the injured after it's done with?" Zane asked. Uryū was surprised when his father said, "I'm a doctor, I will not leave you high and dry."

"Uryū, I can get you more advanced training if you want." Zane stated. Remined them he had an army of Quincy willing to help if it didn't go against their Pride and beliefs. "That would be helpful." A five-pointed Quincy Cross (a conduit for his power to work) hung from his wrist. "I'll see who's open for giving you some pointers." Zane said.

A few days later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

The public park

"Who were we looking for again, Ulquiorra?" The giant tanned skinned being, with a bald ridged head, orange eyebrows, a jawbone 'mask', a hole where his heart would be, and wearing a white uniform, asked looking at the humans running from the crater he made when he landed for the tear in the sky. A pale white skinned being with a blank looking green eye, half of a horned bone 'helmet' on his head, black hair, a hole in his throat, deadpanned as he explained. "Yammy, we are looking for an Orange haired Shinigami with a black bankai. Lord Aizen wishes to know if he will be a threat to the plan." Ulquiorra said. They both had swords at their hip but most of the humans did seem to see them.

"What the hell is this?" Yammy yelled before a runic circle appeared and 'ate' him. "The enemy left a trap." Ulquiorra said as one of the humans hide behind a tree. "What the hell is going on?" Tatsuki, a black-haired human teenager and one of Ichigo's friends, whispered as she watched this 'Ulquiorra' not even react to his 'friend' vanishing. He barely turned his head to watch it happen. "Tatsuki, are you injured?" Orihime, her rather busty burnt orange haired friend said as she ran towards the crater.

"Just shaken. What's going on?" Tatsuki ask as the giant of a teenager half Mexican half Japanese Yasutora Sado, also called Chad, ran past her with his right are changed into a red and black shied arm with a screaming skull on it. "Help is coming." Chad said as his brown hair shadowed his determined eyes. "You are not the target, Trash." Ulquiorra said not interested into them at all. Chad swung at Ulquiorra but was batted away into the tree line with just a finger flick. "As I suspected, utter Trash." Ulquiorra said, as Ichigo arrived with a bandaged blade that looked like a giant meat cleaver in hand. "Do you have a black bankai?" Ulquiorra asked. "Why should I tell you anything?" Ichigo said glaring back. "You are clearly the one we are looking for. I should deal with you on principle." Ulquiorra mused and pointed a figer at Ichigo, charging a green Cero (Energy attack hollows use).

"Searing Slash!" Zane voice echoed as he sliced Ulquiorra's arm off and stopping the cero at the same time. "I can't have you blasted him so soon." Zane said as his hand was still clocked into a 'fire blade'. In his other hand was the arm he sliced off. "You cut through my Hierro (Spanish for Iron Skin) like it wasn't there." Ulquiorra said surprised. He didn't and still couldn't detect Zane. "Well Arrancar, will you flee or fight and loss that arm again?" Zane asked as Ulquiorra's arm regenerated before their eyes. Ulquiorra opened a tear into the air and left without a word, reporting back to Aizen, for sure.

The opening sealed itself shut behind him. "Why didn't you go after him?" Ichigo demanded. "Don't need to. I've got a way to track him." Zane extinguished the flame blade and held up the arm. "Besides, he's beyond your current level of power and skill." Zane said dropping the arm in a sealing jar. Ichigo was frustrated and swung at Zane who caught the blade with a finger. "I get that you are angry, but you are not ready to fight him yet. He is like the visoreds, but he is a hollow with Shinigami powers, the reverse of a Visored." Zane explained.

"you were the man from that weird dream." Ichigo said remembering a dream a man picking his way across a battlefield where only the dead greeted him. Ichigo had seen him go to each body and gave it a proper burial, despite, him having no part is the war that claimed the lives both sides of the conflict completely. It was just one of weird snippets he 'dreamt' that were too real to a dream. "All Quincy 'connected' with me the instant I killed the 'king'. I have no idea what you will or have seen. Nor do I know if the connection with fade with time." Zane said.

"Come, we have much to talk about." He said. Tatsuki made to find a cop but Zane looked at her sharply. "The police cannot help you. Follow your friends if you want answers or look like a fool in the eyes of the ignorant humans." Zane said walking away. She wanted answers even if it was from this weirdo.

Ten minutes later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

A Digital Field

"This space safe from any prying eyes or ears." Zane said as they sat a low table in an odd space that had lines of data floating about a sea of swingy blues. "This makes no sense, nor does the spiders bringing us tea and cookies." Tatsuki said as a couple KoDokugumon carried trays to the table on their backs. "Nothing relating to the Digital World will likely make sense to you." Zane said as the KoDokugumon vanished into the sea of blue.

"The supernatural is real and you are now aware enough to be targeted. I will leave your friends to explain things in a way you can understand. I f I explain you might not get everything." Zane said then let them handle it. In five minutes, Orihime, Chad, and Ichigo gave her the rundown and promised to explain it to the rest of their friends that were spiritually aware. "So, you trapped one of them and got the more powerful one to flee." Tatsuki said to Zane. "That's the sum of it. I showed Aizen, his plan is in shambles with a show of power without revealing too much. By tomorrow the strike team will be here, they here are earlier than planned but it's fine." Zane outlined. "The exit is over there." Zane pointed to wooden doors with their names on them. They would find themselves in their homes as so as they entered them.

That night

Ichigo's Inner World

Ichigo was in the sideways skyscraper filled city that was his Inner World. Standing on a pole was the scruffy black-haired man, wear shades and a dark cloak. "Old Man, you are you really? Are you my zanpakuto or are you my Quincy power?" Ichigo asked the spirit. "It is true I stole the identity of you Shinigami/hollow power spirit, but I only wish to protect you. Even now my choices are for the goal and nothing else." The old man said looking past Ichigo to a crystalline arch that sat on the side of the skyscraper.

"What are you looking at?" Ichigo asked as he turned to see the arch. "How long has that been there?" The Old Man's answer was chilling. "It appeared when Zane slew the Quincy King whose likeness I carry. Zangetsu tried to destroy it but failed to even scratch it." A version of Ichigo with all color bleached out of him appeared with a zanpakuto, that what color swapped of Ichigo's, on his back. "What he didn't say is that it's here to stay." Zangetsu said in a warped voice. "it's the 'connection' that nutjob who committed regicide. I took the liberty to peek where it leads and it's a doozy of place." He laughs at what he saw.

"You were White, the modified hollow sent by Aizen." Ichigo said stating to understand. "Partially true. I'm also your inborn Shinigami powers. Think of it like this. As White I was a mindless hollow and 'infecting' your mother like virus. Fast-forward to your birth, when I jump to you as a virus does." Ichigo's brow twitched as Zangetsu 'talked down' to him. "Suddenly I could 'think' and had to watch for years as you lived your life with some creep jailing me." Zangetsu pointed a thumb at the Old Man. "Now here's the deal. Go in that archway, talk to Zane, and demand to be taken to the creator of zanpakuto! You are not going to win with half assed powers for most longer!" Zangetsu demanded, throwing Ichigo through the arch with a kick.

Zane's Mindscape

Ichigo was spat out a framed picture of his Inner world and faceplanted on a black stone on the middle of a wide room. Groaning he rubbed his bruised face. He was in a room with walls lined with paintings and lines that ran from the black stone to each painting. "What the hell kind of inner world is this?" Ichigo asked. "It's not an Inner World. It's much more than that!" A young blonde-haired kid, wearing a white hooded trench coat, said as he exited another painting far more gracefully than Ichigo did. "My name is Gremmy Thoumeaux, a Sternritter with the designation 'V' – 'The Visionary'. And you are one of the most interesting Quincy hybrids to exist." Gremmy said very interested in him.

"You said this isn't an Inner World. What is it then?" Ichigo asked. Gremmy's grin widened. "It's the domain of a Daemon! A place where the godly being that own it is unstoppable and it is amazing!" Gremmy said with so much joy, Ichigo wondered if anything was wrong with him. "This room is where are Quincy are linked to Death through Lord Zane." Gremmy stated, pointing at the black stone with names of various Death related beings engraved on it. "Where is Zane and why do you look up to him?" Ichigo wanted to know.

"He's somewhere here yet not. This all exists in his being and will continue to exist even after his death." Gremmy said as they left the room and entered a library. "Lord Zane is so highly regarded because the actions he did to saved us from our old king who would have killed us at a moment's notice. In Lord Zane's words 'He is a parasite on a throne of corpses.' Paints a nasty picture, don't ya think?" Gremmy said as they followed some path that twisted and turned.

"And here we are, The Help Desk." Gremmy said gesturing to a book on pedestal with a feather quill pen but no ink well. "Zane hears all requests or questions written in the book and you will get answers at a reasonable rate of time. Go ahead, give it a try." Gremmy pushed Ichigo forward. Ichigo picked up the quill and wrote what he wanted. The reply he got was 'give me a few days.' "I guess it worked." Ichigo said turning to thank the odd Quincy but he was gone into the maze of shelves by then.

Ichigo here soft footsteps and the sound of a book being pulled from a shelf. It took him less than a minute to locate the source, a fashionably dressed man in a white fur colored coat. He had brown hair, somewhat pale skin and 'raccon' eyes. His hands had claw like nails and was holding a book with a Clan symbol Ichigo swore he knew. "Well, I didn't expect to meet you again. To be fair you did look up at me that day because you were a young child and were more interested in the plus you spotted at the crossroad." The man said in a smooth voice, looking up from the book he was reading. "My name is Muramasa, the Zanpakuto that Zane uses."

"What do you mean by that? Shouldn't he have his own?" Ichigo asked. "Zane is 'different' than you Shinigami. He works for Death more directly and is not of this world, as he hinted at your house. My original master no longer heard my voice and tried to break me when I final freed him." Muramasa laughed humorlessly, "Zane took great offence and took a page from the Queen of Hearts." Muramasa drew a line across his neck and Ichigo got the picture.

"What are you reading?" He asked to change the subject. "History of the Kuchiki Clan. It helps give me a clearer picture regarding my old master. Pride and insanity were his fatal poison in the end." Muramasa stated. That was Rukia's clan. Ichigo realized. "How long has Zane been using you?" Ichigo asked. "He helped me not long before infiltrating the Quincy Base. I've spent most of the time trying to figure him out." Muramasa said closing the book, finished with it, and returning it to its shelf. "I still have no idea what to think of him. He used me to help Shinigami communicate better with their Zanpakuto. My ability is to break those bonds, not strengthen them."

Ichigo snorted at this. "Muramasa, Zane is doesn't play with the same rule book as everyone else in this world. The fact he found a positive use for you power shows he can find positive ways for more dangerous powers, even if he's totally insane." Ichigo said. Who fights Kenpachi in hand to hand combat for fun?

A few days later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Karakura Town, Japan

Orihime's Home

"Ichigo is where?" Renji asked. As the strike team stood near an organic 'tv' that they used to contact Soul Society. The Strike Team had, Renji, Masumoto, Captain Hitsugaya, Rukia and two seated officers from Kenpachi's Division. A bald man, who was the Third Seat, Ikkaku Madarame, and 'stylish' black hair man, who was the fifth seat, with feathers off one of his eyebrows, Yumichika Ayasegawa. "After losing to Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, the Arrancar with blue hair and half a jaw as his mask fragment, he was sent to the Soul King's Palace to get some much-needed training. In his words, he needed to stop 'half-assing it' and left after telling his family he wouldn't be home for a while." Zane explained. "We will defend the town from any farther attacks from Aizen's forces." Yamamoto said from the 'TV' banging his cane, closing the matter.

"Man, I can't wait to see how much strong he will be." Ikkaku said with a grin. "Now on to the matter of the Zanpakuto you are using, Captain Laskaris." Yamamoto said gravely. "There is no chance of a repeat of that incident. I don't go on homicidal rampages without good reason." Zane said flatly gripping Muramasa's hilt in annoyance at the accusation that was unsaid. "Koga? As in the Koga who married into the clan and was dealt with for his crimes?" Rukia asked in thought "The abilities Captain Laskaris displayed are close to what the records say about Koga."

"Koga Kuchiki is dead and gone. Even if Muramasa was his Zanpakuto, Muramasa has long since cut ties with him." Zane said in a tone that told everyone to back off. "I hope Muramasa's abilities are put to better use with you." Yamamoto said. "Head Captain, has Momo improved since we departed?" Captain Hitsugaya asked. "Her Zanpakuto has reported her to be 'less of a heartbroken fangirl by the day'. In other words, she is dealing with it." Zane said before Yamamoto could say anything. "Tobiume understands that Aizen perfected being 'Nice' but Momo was a little too trusting." Captain Hitsugaya wanted to deny the claim but he knew it wouldn't help. Aizen had worn a mask that fooled almost everyone.

"The Arrancar you captured has been very helpful to my research." Mayuri said as he stood next to Yamamoto on screen. "I am impressed with how cleanly you interrogated the specimen. The corpse is very intact." Mayuri was holding a file as he talked. "What is the '0' mean? A Ranking system?" Zane rolled his eyes. "when it comes to raw power, the brute was at the top, but he lacked the skill to back it up. The top ten Arrancar are called 'Espada' ranked from '0' to '9' but the ranks don't mean much when it comes to the level of skill each has." Zane explained.

"And how much do you know about the enemy forces?" Rukia asked. With a deadpan, Zane said, "You skimmed the packet I gave you, didn't you?" They looked at him annoyed. "It was a hundred pages long! How do you even get that much info?" Ikkaku demanded. "Met someone with an axe to grind when I was looking for the Quincy Hideout. Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, former third Espada before a sexist member of the group left her for dead because he refused to have a female be higher ranked." Zane said with a plan to kill the fool himself if he met him. "I healed her then helped protect her Fracción, arrancar that serve under an Espada. Long story short, she and her 'family' were very willing to tell me everything they knew even if it was a little outdated because ranks changed."

"And you trust the word of a hollow?" Yamamoto demanded. "She is very honorable personality wise and feels that Aizen shouldn't win after I revealed he plans to use them as a means to the end." Zane said with a smile that sent a chill down their spines. It reminded them too much of Captain Unohana. "Very well. Be vigilant for farther attacks." Yamamoto said as the 'TV' went blank.

 **Author's Note: Next chapter will finish off the conflict with Aizen before moving on to other things. See you then!**


	22. Storming the Burning Field

**Welcome back! I am aware that Mursama doesn't have a cannon Bankai. Spoilers of the following: Bleach, Fairy Tail 100 Year Quest, Ben 10, Shrek (and a Film Theory video about said series will be used), Rise of the Guardians, Gargoyles, Yugioh franchise, Fate Grand Order**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Chapter 22: Storming the Burning Fields**

A few months later

World of the Soul King

Hueco Mundo

Somewhere in the vast plain of white sand

"You just couldn't wait, could you Ichigo?" Zane said as he glassed the 'guardian of Las Noches', a massive hollow made of sand, with ease. "Orihime was kidnapped! What did you expect me to do?" Ichigo demanded. After getting back from the Soul King's Palace, he had an updated wardrobe and zanpakuto. His uniform had additions to it that looked cool and instead of one blade he had two pitch black blades. One was about the same size as his 'fake' blade with a hollow section that his second much smaller blade that looked like a trench knife, would fit in. "You could have waited for me to open a path to my contact in this realm. It would have taken an hour, but you wouldn't be lost like you are." Zane said jabbing Ichigo in the chest as Rukia, Reji, Chad, and Uryū watched the argument silently.

"And where is this 'contact'? All I see is sand, a few tiny lizards, and even more sand!" Ichigo yelled back with a shove that kick of a dust cloud. "Sorry it too so long to reach you." A female arrancar, with a ram skull on her head that covered her long green hair, said as she used Sonido, hollow version of Shunpo, to reached them quickly. A giant hollow that looked like a horned snake, Bawabawa, was fast approaching behind her. On it was a twiggy stag beetle masked hollow wearing some armor, Pesche Guatiche, and a loincloth and a tiki masked hollow with yellow poke-a-doted clothing on, Dondochakka Birstanne.

"This is my contact, Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck. She knows a lot about this realm and can guide us to Las Noches." Zane said as the brown cloak Nel Tu was wearing fluttered in the wind to reveal the form fitting clothes she was wearing under it. It showed no skin but her curvy figure was quite visible. Ichigo looked away with a slight blush, because embarrassment and because of her beauty. "Alright, we need to get to the Palace." Zane said, pointing a tiny 'hill' on the horizon. "Las Noches is the city sized 'palace' of this realm blanketed in eternal moonlight. Below the sands is the Forest of Menos where normal hollow fight to evolve to Gillian, the weakest and most mindless of Memos Grande." Zane said.

"I'm guessing they regain their mind and evolve to hunt on this plain." Renji stated. "Adjuchas, stronger smarter and always eating for fear they regress and never recover their mind in the well of voices that is Gillian." Nel Tu said remembering her days as that level of hollow. Every Adjucha strives for the Vasto Lorde level, devouring each other knowing that the instant a part of their body is eaten they fail to reach that goal." Nel Tu stated as they got on Bawabawa's head. "it will take a few days to get the outer walls, even if Bawabawa goes full speed without being stopped." Zane stated as they took off faster than a car flooring it.

The next day

World of the Soul King

Hueco Mundo

Las Noches

throne room

Aizen gripped the arm rest of his throne as his normally slicked back brown hair looked a little dirty and he had slight bags under his eyes. "Damn him! Of all the things to happen, a Royal Guard is sticking his nose in my plans." Aizen ranting was stopped when the silver haired fox faced (Not literally) man, Gin Ichimaru, entered the room. "Bad news. There are no records of Zane Laskaris ever attending Shin'ō Academy since its founding and the Zanpakuto he's using was previously used a disgraced and disowned kuchiki clan member." Gin said in an amused voice, secretly enjoying Aizen's foul mood. "Did you check ALL the records, even the top-secret ones?" Aizen demanded. "He's a ghost. No record he ever existed anywhere, even in the human world. No sign he ever had any records ether. The closest I could find was a Greek Legend about a clan, he shares the name of, making a deal with the goddess of the hearth and serving her forevermore. No one uses that last name because of superstition around it." Gin said even more interested in Zane than ever.

"He found and disabled all means I had to spy on them! He helped find and raid all my labs! And he may be coming after the Hōgyoku!" Aizen raised and opened the 'vault' the Hōgyoku, a glowing marble in a clear prismatic 'box', rested. It glowed briefly before returning to its normal state. Unseen, a rune glowed under it, waiting for the moment to active as Zane intended it to do. Aizen closed and lowered the 'vault', happy that it was still there. "I still can't believe he warned you he was going to steal it. Pretty gutsy move, reminds of a legendry thief by the name Lupin." Gin said laughing on the inside. "Are they ready to invade the human world?" Aizen asked fixing his hair. "It will take five days to get the final preparations finished. Grimmjow is refusing to go because Ichigo is coming for the girl we took." Gin said.

"Very well, make sure Ichigo's group are stalled long enough to trap them here." Aizen said trying to calm down. "Of course." Gin said leaving, 'forgetting' say that Zane was headed this way or the fact he was help Zane to hopefully kill Aizen for what he did to his friend Rangiku when they were children.

Elsewhere in Las Noches

Orihime's 'room'

Orihime was forced to wear a white dress because Aizen wanted to break Ichigo's spirit emotionally. She froze at the locks on the outside of her door clicked and Grimmjow strode in with a bloodthirsty grin. "Guess what, Ichigo is coming to save you. Too bad he has to get through me." He said "There's nly one other that would make this even better." Orihime knew he wanted her to ask so she did, "What would be better?" Grimmjow slammed a fist into a wall. "If that red-haired man, who stopped me from killing Ichigo when we fought, also was coming, I'd get to kill him too."

"Grimmjow! We are not to harm the prisoner." The new third espada, Tier Harribel, was a blonde-haired dark-skinned woman with a curvy body and her white uniform showed off her stomach but hid her neck and face below her eyes. On her back was a wide sheathe that held a sword with finger loops on the guard to help her unsheathe it. Grimmjow shoved his way past Tier glaring at her.

"Against Zane, he would be ashes in the wind." Tier says as she checks Orihime for any injuries. "Why are you help me?" Orihime asked with a slight stammer. She could feel how powerful Tier was it scared her almost like what she felt during the Three-Day Bankai training method Zane undertook. "Aizen wants you unharmed to drawn Ichigo here. Be it to kill him or stall him long enough for Aizen to win, I'm not sure." Tier said uncaring as she left the room briefly to grab Orihime's meal. "He won't lose that easily." Orihime said defiantly. Tier looked at her with interest. "You believe that with a trace of doubt. There is fear but not for yourself. You are aware that this is a war, people will die and already have. Do you accept the burden of their sacrifice?" Tier questioned, looked for something. "When Zane doing his Bankai training he told me He believed Ichigo would storm Hell itself if it was to save someone. I share the same view even if that idea scares me." Orihime answered with steeled will.

"To storm Hell itself? What foolish plan. Then again not everything will make sense to others." Tier muses as she leaves, closing and locking the door.

Two days later

World of the Soul King

Hueco Mundo

Las Noches

Zane stood next to Tier Harribal as she watched Ichigo fighting Grimmjow under the fake sun lit sandy battlefield. Her Fracción consisted of three members. A tomboyish black hair female with a horn mask fragment, Emilou Apacci. A strong willed dark skinned fluffy brown-haired amazon, Franceska Mila Rose. And a slender olive-green haired female with extra-long sleeves on her uniform that she used to hide her mouth, Cyan Sung-Sun. "He's improved a lot. So did Grimmjow, must have been how easily I stopped his Gran Ray Cero (An energy attack only Espada can do) that pushed him to train harder." Zane mused as pressure forced Tier's Fracción to take a step back.

"You messed with the surveillance?" Tier asked him. "Of course. How else would I talk to the ones planning to betray Aizen? I already swapped the marble with a prototype gem that doubles your power and happens to look and feel the same." Zane said showing them the Hōgyoku briefly. "Who else is on board?" Tier asked. "Grimmjow, only if I prevented anyone from stopping his fight with Ichigo, Coyote Starrk, Lilynette Gingerbuck, and Gantenbainne Mosqueda. The other two Privaron Espada (Espada that were demoted) were killed but were thinking about it last I checked." Zane listed as he sunk into Tier's shadow.

"Apacci, Mila Rose, Sung-Sun, do not stray them the plan." Tier ordered as Aizen called for everyone heading to the frontline to go to the departure point. Then nod and depart at once. Zane smirked as Aizen unknowingly let him get past the lock down trap he set for the captains that had come to help Ichigo's group here.

A few hours later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Fake Karakura town

Appartently, Mayuri had 'swapped' the town with a fake one and the giant white pilers, at the corners of the town, were what was keeping the dimensional shenanigans he did going. Zane was bidding his time as the former ruler of Hueco Mundo lost all his Fracción and discovered his 'time' powers worked just as well at rotting his body to dust from inside out. That was the moment he was waiting for! Zane shot out of Tier's shadow as she broke away from the fight.

"YOU!" Aizen roared in anger. "Tada! I told them you'd lose it when I showed up. You noticed you can't trick them like you die before." Zane said amused as he drew Muramasa from the sheath. "NO doubt your work." Aizen ground out. "You're too late! I have fused with the Hōgyoku and you can't steal it!" Aizen said confident. It crumbled as two of the Espada and their Fracción, Gin, and even Kaname Tōsen, turned against him. "How? When did you get to them?" Aizen demanded as all his plans crumbled around him. "Information can make or break any plan. What I did was share enough secrets to help them find my side to be better for their survival." Zane said as Yamamoto stood next to him. "Your plan worked to some degree. All is left is-" Yamamoto was attacked by Wonderweiss, an extremely modified arracar made to 'seal' the flames of his zanpakuto.

"Your flames will not work with Wonderweiss around." Aizen said. "That's true but here's the thing, Muramasa doesn't use fire. Care to guess what my bankai is?" Zane said as an aura of power filled the air. The buildings of the fake town started to crumble under the pressure he was releasing. "You cannot breach the countermeasures I put in place with that blade in mind. No matter what zanpakuto spirit you drew out I can deal with them." Aizen said noticing his power wasn't growing like it should be. "Bankai, Koyū Kekkai Muramasa." Zane said at the world changed.

Inside of Zane's Bankai

"Where are we?" Aizen asked as they stood in a graveyard. "Welcome to my domain. This is my mind forced upon reality. Just you and me and the Hōgyoku I stole from you." Zane said showing the memory of him swapping it out for a fake. "even if it's a fake it's more than enough power to kill you and take it back!" Aizen roared, his calm mask destroyed and discarded. "Are you forgetting this my mind?" Zane said as shades of the dead Laskaris Clan rose from the graves. "Each and every one of them is a shade of one of my clanmates who have died but are far from forgotten. You lose Aizen. May you find a better life in the next one." Zane said.

Five minutes later

World of the Soul King

Human World

Fake Karakura town

Zane's bankai faded and Aizen was nowhere in sight. "The war is over." Zane stated. "thank you for getting Tōsen to come to his senses." Sajin Komamura, the captain of the 7th Division, said gratefully. He was a humanoid wolf with orange brown fur and taller than Zane. "I did my best to limit how many died this war. It was not the messiest of wars I had to deal with. A war where I'm not drenched in my enemies' blood is a nice change. I'm drained and need rest." Zane stated falling asleep on his feet. Coyote Starrk, the currently strongest espada, burst into laughter that was uncommon for the lazy arracar. His horn helmeted blonde haired young female 'zanpakuto', Lilynette Gingerbuck, was pulling on his brown hair in frustration. "Starrk! Why did you teach him your habits?" Llynette yelled, her free hand hitting him on the head repeatedly, doing no damage at all. Starrk's mask fragment was a bottom jaw of a wolf around his neck.

"Oh My, it seems he was telling the truth." Kisuke said in a very interested voice as he inspected Zane. "Rewriting reality does bring you to the brink of death if you hold it long enough. Luckily, he's in clear this time. Hate to have him die so soon." He said as the arrancar forces opened the way to Hueco Mundo to assess the chaos the power vacuum would be. Starrk gave Zane a pat on the back as he passed him, it was nice to have someone that understood you and had no hidden agencies for your friendship.

Clean up didn't take long and Zane recovered after a week of sleep and Orihime's 'rejection of phenomenon' powers. yeah, she could 'reject' something that happens or happened with willpower. Speaking of crazy powers, the Hōgyoku was dealt with by Death, in person. From what they told Zane, his Death appeared in the R and D HQ and 'broke it down with a tap of a boney claw'. Apparently, if anyone who's energy was taken to make the powerful marble was still alive, then they got what was taken returned.

When Zane left the world something odd happened, Muramasa's sword body entered his mind to be called at any time. The links with the Quincy didn't change as Zane left Death's 'project world'. To clear things up, at some point Death noticed this world and decided to block off from ALL visitors save the ones they allowed in. The restrictions were lessened as time went by so they may find their way to other worlds down the road, humans had tenacity for days.

A few months later

Plumber controlled space (Ben 10 planets)

Earth

Somewhere in the USA

Laskaris lake (A Laskaris did name it but it wasn't Zane time traveling to do so)

Zane was meditating on the waters of the lake he owned on this Earth. He had to jump through so many hoops with the intergalactic police, called themselves the 'Plumbers', to get the land but it was worth it. Bad news was that they complained about the 'level 20+ tech' he had 'illegally'. Shows what they know, Zane had paperwork to own any level of tech and the licenses to boot. It's also why the Plumbers didn't really like him much. That's why it was a surprise to asked to wed a Plumber and a Lenopan, a purple blob shapeshifter alien race. They wanted to make peace and this marriage would cement it. Zane was against it but when it was revealed to be started by love and politics came after, he relented. He prayed that Hera would be willing to guide him through this job.

The last thing he need was some wedding crashers or worse the Tennysons showing up. He had run into them one time when he saved a set of rune stones or talismans from being destroyed by Gwen Tennyson. She had good intentions, but Zane needed them for his study of runes. The young orange haired spellcaster didn't think broad enough. Her brown-haired cousin was a bigger trouble magnet than her. He got his hands on the omnitrix, a level 20 tech that can transform you into any of the many alien DNA sample added to it. The ten-year-old used it to goof off and be a hero.

He could almost hear their weaponized RV they called the Rust bucket. He opened his eyes and groan as his luck struck again. He wasn't just imagining it. the Rust bucket was coming down the road! He hung his head as he heard Ben complaining as he exited the Rust bucket. Time to inform them of the rules. It took him a moment to get to where the Rust bucket was parked. "Tennyson before you go any farther there is rules to be followed." Zane said looking right at Ben, who's hand when to the alien 'watch' on his wrist. "You the guy that stole the charms. What are you doing here?" Ben said. "Ben, he owns the lake and land around it for miles." Ben's gray-haired normally red Hawaiian shirt wearing grandfather, Max Tennyson, said warning Ben not to do anything rash.

"Rule one: no trespassing. Rule two: mind the signs. Rule three: Here my word is Law. Break any of these rules and there will be punishment." Zane said glaring at Ben, who up at the collar of his tux. Zane look at Max and commented "Not wearing your normal shirt? I swear you have dozens of them that all look alike." He joked seeing Max in a tux. "Why can't we swim in the lake? Is there an alien or something living in it?" Gwen asked. "No, it's just that it is Aria's home away from home and one of her spots she hides a sub-horde. It's not gold, just stones that are charged with energy for days. If you try to remove one it will be unpleasant for you." Zane said as the morning fog over the lake shifted weirdly. "Ah Aria surfaced. I'll introduce you to her." Zane guided them to the pier.

"woah. That is quite a collection." Ben said staring at the mosaic lakebed under the crystal-clear water. Aria materialized from the mist and the Omnitrix scanned her stating "Unknown DNA detected." Aria was miffed at this and soaked Ben with a gentle wave of water that only hit him. "What is she?" Gwen said wanting the touch the creature before her. Aria butted her with her snout. "This Aria a Mist Dragon. If you hear singing out on the lake at night, it's one of us or both." Zane said as Aria vanished into the mist with a melodic whisper "eyes and ears of a visitor will yield greater treasure than the hands of a thief." Aria's wisdom was a warning.

As they returned to camp area people were snickering at Ben. "You offended the dragon as well?" Gordon Tennyson, Max's older brother, asked with a soaking wet black cowboy hat on. "His watch did something." Max said giving his brother a hug. "I didn't get soaked but I did get my hat stolen when I said a lakebed of gold would have looked nicer. Apparently, this is an art piece as much as a horde of treasure." Gordon said amused. "Joel! Your uncle is here!" Gordon yelled. Joel, a youthful dark-haired man, was Gordon's son and the groom of this wedding. With him was his Bride-to-be, Camille Mann, a red-haired woman with great beauty in her human form.

"thank you for coming." Joel said. "there were a few snags, but Zane had a talk with her parents." Gordon snorted at this. "more like he read them the riot act. Zane's the most frustrating being the Plumbers had to deal with. He hardly ever breaks a rule without some loophole to get him out of it. You've met him more than once, right?" Gordon said. "Yeah, we've run into him a few dozen times over the summer. He really gets around. He even reconstructed Mount Rushmore after it got blasted." Max admitted.

"heard about that. Vilgax was after you for because of that watch of yours. Tech higher than level ten are big bucks on the black market. It much be quite useful to turn into other aliens." Gordon said ruffling Ben's hair. "Me? I'm perfectly happy as a human with a good blaster to fight with." Zane smiled at Joel and Camille. "It's wonderful that you are marrying for love. I will do my best to get both Hera and Hestia to bless this union." Zane said warmly. "We are grateful that you are doing so much for this event." Camille said still shocked Zane was even letting them be here. "It is my duty as a Child of the Hearth to promote a loving home." Zane said with pride. "And because that dragon likes to show off her art." Gordon adds with a laugh.

Few days later

Plumber controlled space

Earth

Somewhere in the USA

Laskaris lake

Zane relaxed as everyone left. The wedding worked out and he got to go back to was he was doing before the call about the wedding. He placed his hands into the water and let energy flow through him into the lake. Laskaris Lake was connected to many bodies of water on this planet and the energy he was channeling was 'programed' with one propose, fixing the earth. For past few months he had been dumps tons of energy into the water and correcting years of damage done to the planet each week. The Earth passed him energy and he 'programed' it with his own before returning it to the earth. Being a nexus of laylines and water paths made this lake unsafe for humans to swim in because of the sheer amount of energy that was centered on this one spot. The lake was ablaze with kaleidoscopic light. This would give enough energy to fix the earth for a few years before it had to be renewed again.

Zane heard metal footfalls as a bunch of humans in armor, calling themselves the 'Forever Knights' leveled weapons at Zane. "Surrender the dragon. It must be slain." The leader of the group demanded. "No. The only ones to die will be you lightning rods." Zane said as arks of energy struck the intruders and killing them quickly but extra painfully. "That's why I don't do this with metal on my person. Zane removed his hands from the water and put his rings and bangles back on. He was don't for the night, so he headed for the cabin to call it a night.

A few weeks later

Plumber controlled space

Onboard the Resolute

Zane teleported to Gwen's location as soon as he sensed the SDM coming from the Ominitrix. "Why in Tartarus did you trigger the self-destruct mechanism?" Zane yelled at Ben with a glare that would burn metal as he lifted Ben by his green shirt. "Anima's caused it! I had no idea it happened." Ben said more scared of Zane than anything he ever faced. "Note to self, find Doctor Anima and teach him a lesson." Zane said dropping Ben. He looked at his location and he was on a spacecraft of alien origin. Piloting it was a Protost, a pink goopy alien race from the planet Myceto. "Is that you, Gluto? Last time I crossed paths with you was when I fixed up the owned by the Petrosapien, Tetrax Shard."

"You have an old way of showing up." The light blue crystal alien, Tetrax, said as he relaxed his stance from the doorway. "I almost cut your arm off again." Tetrax arms had been shaped into razor sharp blades but returned to 'hand' mode as Tetrax realized it was Zane. "Where are you headed?" Zane asked. "The Incarcecon Intergalactic Detention Center. For some reason the creator of the Omnitrix is there." Tetrax stated bring on screen a DNA readout that he found on the Omnitrix. "Nope, that's not Azmuth's DNA. That is his assistant's DNA. Myaxx, a Chimera Sui Generis, who might know where he holed himself away." Zane said in matter of fact voice.

"a what?" Ben asked confused. "Think a humanoid alien with a squid face and can morph into a squid form when underwater." Zane said. "Oh, like Vilgax!" Gwen commented. "He's a bad apple of the race." Zane said as Junk Dealer appeared out of nowhere ready to help. "Junk Dealer, I need you to get Myaxx out of Icarcecon without being detected, post haste." Zane said out loud and mentally. Junk Dealer saluted and sped off.

"And now we wait for the him to get her out." Zane said counting down from ten. As he finished, Myaxx was teleported in with a burning cloak and half melted cuffs that fell off her arms. "Teleporting grenade needs work." Zane said as Myaxx threw her cloak off and stamped on it. "Whose bright idea was to use some prototype to bust me out?" She demanded angerly, looking at the motley crew of the ship. "I'm cashing in the favor you owe me." Zane stated holding up a contract signed in blood. Myaxx flinched. "How can I help?" She asked. "Some moron caused a radioactive wave that targeted DNA near the Omnitrix, triggering the SDM. Take use to Azmuth and your debt it repaid in full." Zane stated.

"You have got to be kidding me! I warned him about that flaw in the prototype Omnitrix but he said it was next to impossible to happen." Myaxx said annoyed. She looked at the Omnitrix and sighed. "We've got a few days at most as long as he doesn't transform too many times. Head a course for Xenon. The Omnitrix has a homing beacon in it to guide us through the darkness." Gluto got to it and the ship warped.

An hour later

Plumber controlled space

Onboard the Resolute

On route to Xenon

"So, what with the bloody paper?" Gwen asked Myaxx. "I made a deal with Zane in the past and he made me sign in blood, making it extremely binding. You'd need to warp reality to void that contract." Myaxx said annoyed. "Azmuth discovered that Zane's blood is used on special paper it can make a contract you don't want to break. Must be done by Zane and must be done willingly. That's the rules we worked out before we had a falling out." Gwen grimaced at the implications. "That is an unpleasant property." Gwen said as Ben was on top of the ship guided them to the planet, through the pitch-black area with wrecks and asteroids floating about.

"If you think that is bad, Junk Dealer is worse. It's a cycloptic almost indestructible tendrilled ball that arms itself with whatever weapons and armor it can salvage in space. It has no DNA or anything that a 'living being' has!" Myaxx said frustrated. "Even the Naljian, energy beings that are above our plan of existence, have DNA!" Myaxx's facial tentacles rived as she ranted. "That is not something I expected to hear, ever. Are you aware that someone wrote books on other worldly beings that sort of look like you?" Gwen asked. Myaxx shivered. "all too well. They are legends from my home planet that was shared with that human writer ages ago." Myaxx pauses as they land on Xenon. "Don't do any rites and they won't pay any attend to you." Myaxx warned Gwen.

An hour later

Plumber controlled space

Xenon

Azmuth's hidden lair

"Azmuth, you have two choices. Open this door and fix the problem a flaw in the Prototype Omnitrix has caused, or I will open this door and force you to fix it." Zane said as Ben, Gwen, Myaxx, and Tetrax waited with him. A distorted voice came from the high-tech door. "Why should I stop the universe from exploding? They are already misusing my masterpiece for selfish causes. The Omnitrix was made to bridge gaps, not for conquest or heroics." Zane sighed. "Ben can do that and be a hero at the same time. You can't tell me that there is not a single race that fights to understand each other." Zane countered. "And I will make use you suffer before it kills everyone including my family." Zane said darkly.

"Fine! I don't need you haunting me for eternity." Azmuth said opening the door. "You're still wearing that bio-suit?" Zane asked a tanky looking being stepped out. "What of it? Besides, to fix this screw up, I need to get out of it." Azmuth said as the Bio-suit opened, and a tiny elderly gray frog eyed alien jumped out. Yes, Azmuth was a Galvan, a super smart but small bodied alien. Azmuth messed with the Omnitrix and it returned to normal with a green faceplate instated of the red countdown color. "Any more surprises I need worry about?" He asked, in a dry squeaky voice. "Junk Dealer is messing with Vilgax's fleet for the past few days so unlikely he found you were here." Zane said amused.

"Just for that I's let Ben keep the prototype. Maybe he'll impress me enough to get the finished product. It's not everyday Mist Dragon DNA is collected. Good job kid." Azmuth said impressed with Ben's luck at finding rarer DNA.

Junk Dealer sent a message he was down 'playing' with Vilgax and had retrieved the 'Back up Crystal'. "Tetrax, you said you'd do anything to right the wrong you committed in the past." Zane said as Ben messed with the Omintrix. "This a new one. It's Hero time!" He slams the face plate down that in a flash of green light he turned into a copy of the Crystalsapien. He was a tall cycloptic silicon-based creature with a dark blue body and magenta hands, face, and five spikes (four on the upper chest and one on the top of the head). "Looks like a weird cousin of Diamondhead (Ben's name for Tetrax's race). I think I'll name this form Chromastone." Ben said.

"Ben's weird naming aside, what are you taking about?" Tetrax asked. "I got the key to reviving your planet and people. Junk Dealer took back the crystal and if you take it to the guardian of Petropia, Sugilite, you can right the wrong. Don't worry about Vilgax, he's going to be chasing Junk Dealer for weeks." Zane said with a smirk. "Is that possible?" Myaxx asked. "It's a sound plan. If they can find Sugilite in time. Petropia is maze at times and after it got blasted, some of the paths will be blocked off. Getting the DNA sample from Sugilite wasn't easy." Azmuth said knowingly.

"Watch it!" Gwen said as Ben realized Chromastone could shot UV energy blasts. "As you have recovered, this form can generate, channel, and redirect energy. It can also survive a 'nuke', the vacuum of space, and can regenerate from hits that happen to do damage to the 'tank' body." Zane said using words Ben would understand. "a strong and tough form with long rang options. Got it." Ben said getting the gist of it. "question. How do you know this alien can survive a nuclear blast?" Gwen asked a little worried. "by having Sugilite stand in the blast zone of one on lifeless chuck of rock in space." Zane said. "It was payment for his deal. I help him fix his planet and he help me figure out his powers for my records. He returned to his post alive and a little scathed up."

"You ask for interesting 'payments'" Azmuth stated amused.

A few weeks later

World where Kobayashi lives

Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture

Kobayashi's apartment

"After Squidface figure out Junk Dealer's connect to me, he chases me around space for a few days. It took me slice his flagship in half to get him to stop. All because I ruined his plan to get his 'super weapon'. Guy needs to get a life." Zane said lounging on Kobayashi's couch. He hadn't changed too much over the years, her dragon friends didn't change at all, because they are dragons. "sounds like a real jerk." Kobayashi stated opening a beer. "He's a dragon." Kanna said pointing at Zane's shadow. "How did you do that? Your scent is so weird." Elma, a short dark-haired woman in a business suit and wavy horn on her forehead, asked. She was a Dragon from the Harmony faction and had sensed Zane's rushed teleport to the apartment building.

"you wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain it." Zane said. Ilulu, a short but very busty female with lightly curled horns, clawed hands, stared at Zane intently. Illulu, a chaos dragon and the third dragon that stays at Kobayashi's home. "He's got an anti-world weapon on him. I can sense it." Illulu said. Tohru flew out of the laundry room in an instant. "Really? They are so fun to use!" She said with grin. "How many have you used?" Elma demanded. "None, mainly because of the requirements or curses one them make not even worth trying to use it." Tohru said with a huff.

Zane brought out his battle axe and set it on the floor, flat. "here it is. stjörnu börn is their name." Zane stated. "It looks deadly but what makes it a planet destroyer?" Kobayashi asked, blinking in confusion. "It's dwarven weapon, they know how to make great weapons." Elma grunted as she tried and failed to lift it. "HOT!" Elma let go of the handle as her hands were on fire. She plunged them into the dish water in the sink in relief. "I guess they don't like you." Zane said amused. Tohru tried to lift it but fared no better, minus hands burned. "Can't lift it at all. Maybe Fafnir can tell us more about it." Tohru said as Elma headed home, away from the dangerous weapon.

An hour later

World where Kobayashi lives

Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture

Kobayashi's apartment

"The runes are done in blood." Fafnir, a gloom but good looking male, said, as his red eyes scanned the weapon. Fafnir was a chaos dragon that had intimate knowledge of curses and wasn't afraid to use them. Lucoa had been called when Fafnir failed to figure the weapon out. "Oh my! A family line requirement. That is odd." She comments looking at a cluster of runes. "A what?" Kanna asked, all the dragons were interested in this weapon. "Only Zane's family may even have a chance of using it. They all so must share an affinity with fire to start to synchronize with it." Lucona explained.

"Then they will be judged by the power source. If they don't like you, you're going to get burnt to so degree." Fafnir added. "It isn't cursed exactly but that is so much blood involved in it's creation that it must be very important." They look to Zane for answers. "Alright! Stop staring at me like that. It like a bunch of cats staring at a bird." Zane grumbled. "I got it from Thor after I gave up a 'cursed' axe in a deal that worked out in the end." Fafnir had a hungry gleam in his eyes "how cursed?"

"Its edge was coated in liquid hate so concentrated it was like acid. It was made from the bones of a Gashadokuro bigger than mt. Everest." Zane described. "And where is it now?" Fafnir asked. "In the hands of the Greek goddess of revenge. She had been hounding me for it for some time. Anyways, back to my new axe. Thor had the dwarves put twin blue stars into it axe body and used my blood to add the runes. That's all I know because they are keep the secret of forging uru ore to themselves." Zane said annoyed.

"this is a much better weapon for an enlightened being." Lucoa said with smile. "What's the title you got after becoming a daemon?" Zane's answer made Kobayashi do a spit take. "I am Zane Laskaris, Monk of Wrath and Sorrow. I'm also called the Mad Rocker in some circles." The dragons were shocked as well. There was rumors of a being so angry that Heartless hid from his glare alone. "How did you get the Heartless to fear you without a keyblade?" Ilulu asked dying to know the answer. "Well, I got throw into the Realm of Darkness by some I hated a lot and the Heartless just got me angrier. At some point I got so angry I grabbed Margert and started bashing them to death, but I couldn't kill them, so they kept reforming and starting the cycle again." Zane admitted. He showed them Margert. "That title is making so much sense now." Kobayashi said with a sigh. She changed the subject as Zane took the axe back, mystery solved. "You have a lot of rings and other jewelry on your person."

"Mostly summoning objects." Zane said. "Other than that, I've of my wedding band and the mark of the Fae Queen." They stared. "What? Is the fact I got married that surprised you?" They look away. "You have weird hobbies and I don't know anyone, not even dragons, that would want to deal with your clan's luck." Ilulu commented. "What about his carrying the mark of Titania?" Kanna asked looking at the ring in question. It was pretty. "Well, it's not that much of a stretch, he is quite interesting. But how is he a dragon?" Tohru said frustrated at how they were sidetracked.

"It's more like I have a dragon that is a part of me. How well do you know the legend of the Dragon's Gate?" Zane asked. "A fish swims up the waterfall and becomes a dragon after passing through gate at the top of the falls." Kanna replied She studied that in school. "Come on out Wrath." Zane said. The dragons' eyes tracked his shadow as it twisted and separated from Zane. It raced outside and Wrath's full-sized eye peered into the apartment from the open front door. "meet the ugliest fish, aka the embodiment of my wrath, who jumped through the Dragon's Gate. Wrath come back before you stir up trouble." Zane said and Wrath returned to being Zane's shadow.

"I'm too sober to deal with this." Kobayashi said. "How's your family? Got any kids?" Zane smiled and pulled out photos. He animated talks about his daughters.

A few hours later

World where Kobayashi lives

Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture

Kobayashi's apartment

"who show have seen his face when Electra used a White Lightning spell. He was speechless." Zane laughed as he told the four of them, Lucoa and Fafnir had left an hour ago, about some of the things that had happened. "where is Aria?" Tohru asked. "She's checking her hordes because some knights tried to 'slay her and reclaim the gold' you know how it is." Zane annoyed. "They didn't even get near her because of the lake's energy barbequing them in their armor. I put up signs that prohibit anyone from wearing to much metal when the lake glows for that very reason!" Zane said. "It wasn't even a 'stash of riches' treasure. It was a lakebed turned into one big art piece!"

"Can I see it?" Kobayashi asked. "Here's a postcard but it doesn't capture the feeling when looking at it in person." Zane said showing her a postcard of a bird's eye view of the lake. "looks amazing." Kobayashi says. "What does your 'anti-world' weapon do? I know it can burn and slice stuff, but Thor's hammer had some neat tricks to it." She reasoned. "If I were to let it run wild, it'd remake the world I was on via Flames of Chaos." Zane said. "Those are the name of a fire that is the perfect mix of creation and destruction. In other words, a smaller scale version of what Chaos used to create all of reality." Tohru recited from memory "It is one of the core lessons all Chaos Faction Dragons are taught."

"So, he had the power of shape worlds however he wants?" Kobayashi asked. "Nope." Zane said. "It is Chaos themselves that is making the changes. The voice of Chaos is indescribable." Zane said with a shudder. "So, you would be aligned with Chaotic Good?" Kobayashi asked remembering the Alignment system from DnD. "not exactly but close enough." Zane commented checking the time. "It's getting late and I need to get going. Thanks for letting me rest for a bit." Zane said and departed.

A few days later

A Fairy Tale World

The Swamp

Zane neared Shrek's home a little worried. Before got to knock, a royal escort rolled up and man walked up to him asking "Is this the dwelling of Princess Fiona's husband?" Zane was really confused now. He had done a little time traveling to get his Pure Nail about ten years ago (from this day) and as far as Zane knew, Shrek was not married or ever thinking about it. The last time he was in this world was a few years ago to break up the Pleasure Island trafficking ring, people you turned human boys to donkeys then selling them to salt mines as expendable laborers.

"I'm not sure who that is? Where does she hail from?" Zane asked. The messenger looked a little annoyed but answered "She is the princess from the kingdom of Far Far Away. Surely you have heard of it?" Oh! That kingdom. "I have but I never got in touch with them. My Kingdom is quite far away and hidden. We mostly trade with other kingdoms but never really meet save for big events." Zane answered coolly. "And that Kingdom is?" The messenger asked "The Prize Kingdom. We are best known for the rare silk we sell." Zane answered. The messenger was shocked. "Your Grace, I didn't imagine I'd meet the illusive King of the Prize Kingdom in my lifetime." He and the trumpeters bowed.

"This is why I don't advertise it. Please don't tell anyone until I get to Far Far Away." Zane asked. "We are to take the princess and her husband there to meet her parents. You can come along to save time, if you wish, Your Grace." The messenger said as Shrek opened the door. "What do you lot want?" He asked groggily. Zane stopped the messenger or trumpeters from doing their thing. "He's not in mood for the protocol. Let me do the talking." Zane said and was handed the scroll by the messenger. "Hello Shrek. I came by a decade ago to find a spear." Zane started as a female ogre with red hair and wearing a green dress placed a hand on Shrek's arm.

"I remember you. You've aged well. What's with the rest of them?" Shrek said bluntly. "They were sent by your wife's parents. They wish to meet you post haste." Zane said after scanning the scroll's contents and summarizing it. "That's great. I was going to send them a letter to ask them that soon." Fiona, it had to be her even if she was an ogre, said encouragingly. "Donkey can come too, I hope." Fiona said as a talking gray furred black maned donkey came out saying something about breakfast. He froze when saw Zane. "Hey there Zane. You aren't still mad I didn't say anything about the island for so long, right?" Donkey said as his knees knocked in fear.

"I am very cross with your cowardice but with the ring dismantled and all parties connected to it dealt with, it's not an issue anymore." Zane said to the victim of Pleasure Island that escaped but told no one for many years until Zane made him talk.

An hour later

A Fairy Tale World

Road to the Kingdom Far Far Away

"So, you're a King? Didn't think you'd be the type." Shrek said as they sat in the carriage. "It's a handful but my second in command is great at making sure it doesn't crumble to chaos when nether me or my wife is there. How's that last decade been for you?" Zane said, relaxing. He knew it was going to be a long ride, at least a day of traveling. "Shenanigans happened and I saved her from a tower, fought a dragon, crashed a wedding, married her, and Donkey hooked up with the dragon I fought." Shrek said amused.

"I've never heard of the Prize Kingdom before. What do you export?" Fiona asked. "Silk, crafted stuff, Spirits (alcohol), dairy products, among other things. It's been about two decades since it was formed so it's not surprising you wouldn't know if you had to be saved from a dragon. How long were you in the tower?" Zane listed. "About that long." She said. "Because of that fae curse on you? Smells too much like the price of some of the 'deals' I've witnessed between Fae and mortals." Zane commented rolling his eyes. "It's too old to even think of altering it in any way and I don't think you'd even want me to."

"I'm fine the way I am." Fiona said but was puzzled about something. "Would a Fairy Godmother be considered a Fae?" She asked with a sneaking suspicion. "To differing degrees. Some are just mortals with enough Fae blood to be good at magic and have 'fairy wings', they have egos like you wouldn't believe in the worst cases. Did you have one?" Zane said thinking of a potion making blue gowned one that was nasty with a capital N.

"She's the one that figured out how to 'break my curse'. My parents were reluctant to going along with the plan." Fiona said. "What's the Fae Queen like?" Donkey asked. "Inhuman beauty and more dangerous than any human ever will be." Zane said. "All it takes is to cross her and you are in for a fate most unpleasant. On the other hand, if she finds you interesting enough, well your life is going to be interesting forever more." Zane finished showing them Titania's Mark.

"Damn, you have the craziest luck. You've got a kingdom and wonderful family but also her messing with your life. Only thing to make that worse is if you have a cult or something that idealize you." Donkey said with a laugh. Zane's head hung. "I've got that too. I don't catch a break often without something chaotic happening to balance it out."

Later that night

A Fairy Tale World

Temporary camp

Zane was on watch duty as they had to stop for the night. As he predicted, they were delayed be problems, doubling the travel time to a whole day. If they left by morning, they'd make it there but midday. "It's going to be a long night." he mused as things watched the camp. He caught an arrow aimed for his neck and stood up. The bandits wouldn't beat themselves. By morning they would find Zane standing by a pile of beaten, and looted, bandits, waiting for the law enforcement to pick them up.

Midday

A Fairy Tale World

The Kingdom Far Far Away

Royal Castle

Dining room

"That is ENOUGH!" Zane said, slamming his hands on the table as Shrek and King Harold, a short gray-haired balding man wearing a simple crown a blue fancy clothing, argued about Fiona and what her children would be. "You are both acting like a pair of Rams, butting heads on a mountain." Zane said glaring at them from his eat at the table. "Shrek, I get that you aren't used to this kind of setting so I will let you off easy with a warning. Work on your temper." Then Zane turned to King Harold, who wilted under his glare. "You on the other hand have no right to be so racist. You were a frog that became human to marry the love of your life." Zane indicates Queen Lillian, blonde haired woman in a tasteful pink royal dress. "Your daughter chose who she wanted to marry out of love. Do not look like a hypocrite in front of her. It will ruin the image she has of you." Zane got up not hungry anymore. "If you need me, I will be in the library." Zane walked away.

"He has a point, Harold." Queen Lillian said. "I guess my temper got the better of me, truce?" Shrek offered. King Harold sighed and said "Truce." Internally he was panicking, Fairy Godmother would not be happy, and it'd be his fault. "It's been stressful the last year and I might have taken it out on you, Shrek." King Harold said, being totally truthful but not saying why. "Zane dealt with a large band of bandits on the way here and mentioned something about taking care of a big trafficking ring." Fiona said. "Yes, they are a problem that doesn't stop coming back, the bandits I mean." King Harold said. "There are more hoodlums in the woods than there are ones who are detained. More you catch, more they will attack the roads to your kingdom to get back at you." The king sighed.

"Zane's got this handled. He took out a hundred of them in a single night." Donkey said, "They practically jumped into the carts just to get away from him." The King and Queen arched a brow at this. "Well, we will make sure to thank him for getting you here safely, even if he caused a power vacuum." King Herold said with a sigh.

A few days later

A Fairy Tale World

The Kingdom Far Far Away

Royal Castle

The infirmary

"Ok, Father-in-law, why did you hire this cat to kill me?" Shrek said holding up a ginger cat, wearing boots, a feathered hat, a sword at his hip, for King Herold to see. "Fairy Godmother made me do it! She was going to stone me with her magic if I didn't try to make sure her pompous son, Prince Charming, marries Fiona." He confessed. "I hire Puss in Boots to keep you busy while Zane confronted her." A retching noise was heard behind the curtain

"And how well did that work out?" Shrek asked putting Puss down. "Her potion and enchantment factory exploded in a rainbow fashion, both her and her son are alive but stone for who knows how long, her workers are now doves, and Zane is hurling gem stones made of the stuff he got hit with there." King Herold lamented. "Hold on. Zane was in a magical explosion and all he got was hurling magical gemstones?" Donkey asked. "Magic can be very unpredictable. I have heard she cut corners with wear she stored stuff." Puss said in a smooth Spanish accent.

"That two-bit hag cut all the corners." Zane got out from behind the curtain before hurling again. "is he going to be ok?" Shrek asked as staff were exchanging buckets full of gems for empty ones. "I have no idea. He's been like this all afternoon and the experts deemed the gemstones to be extremely concentrated magic. In other words, very hazardous to touch with your bare flesh." King Herold let that sink in as Fiona arrived worried. "Dad, I heard what happened from Mom." She said had King Herold braced for the hit, but she hugged him instead. "I can't believe she blackmailed you like that." Fiona continued. "I'm mad at you but I'm so proud that you turned things around like you did."

"That great and all but why is Zane's bed curtained off?" Shrek asked. King Herold turned green as he ran off to hurl, remembering what Zane looked like when the knights had brought him in. "Boss, I smell acid burns from Zane's bed. It is very likely he did not come away from the flood of potion cocktail unharmed." Puss said.

"The cat's right." Zane said pulling the curtain open to reveal a 'shadow' in the shape of Zane. "Head to toe chemical burns that will heal by noon tomorrow." Zane said as he spat out the last of the crystalized magic gemstones. "I'm wearing my shadow for two reasons." He shaped numbers with each reason. "One, because the fresh skin touching anything, including the air, is unpleasant for me to say the least. And two, it's not a pretty site."

"You're not wearing anything save for a magical shadow? How are do you see anything?" Donkey asked. "Those were the first things to heal." Zane grumbled. "What happened?" Fiona asked. "I confronted the hag and she admitted to cursing you as a child. Then she shoots a spell at me but hit her son who was making kissy faces at his reflection." Zane said. "That got her really angry and blamed me for dodging the spell. She tried again and used the mirror her son had to reflect it back at her. That's how they got stoned." Zane told them.

"That doesn't explain how the explosion happened." Fiona said. Zane looked away. "That was a little bit my fault. As I turned to leave, her wand fell into the potion she was working on. One moment everything was fine, then next I was drowning in what felt like acid as I was washed outside of the building. The knights got me on a stretcher and back here in an hour. It was around noonish." Zane stated. "I better deal with the 'hazardous' gem issue." He gets up and pours the 30 some gallons of golf ball sized gems into a coin sack labeled 'Fae bartering'. "Sorry I can't stay longer but I don't want to be anywhere near that plot of land for a while." Zane said sinking into the ground and racing along the halls as shadow.

Later a few days later

Guardianverse

Earth

North Pole

North's workshop

"Pitch was here." North, the Santa of this universe with a Russian accent, declared to the other Guardians of Childhood. "I felt it in my belly." He said as they groaned. "Mate, I get you trust your gut, but we need to have more to make a plan." E. Aster Bunnymund, a tall kangaroo looking rabbit race called the Pookas and the Guardian of Hope, said with an Australian accent to the Guardain of Wonder. Toothiana, the tooth fairy, was a green feathered bird like fairy about the size of a teenager and was the Guardian of Memories. She was talking with her tooth collecting fairies, pixie sized look-a-likes, about teeth that needed to be collected.

As everyone was not paying attraction, save for the Sandman, the moon shining and the shadow sneaking in was largely missed. Sanderson Mansnoozie, a very short golden man and the Guardian of Dream, tried to get everyone's attraction but his symbols made of golden dream sand went unnoticed. The shadow watched the events amused next to one of the yetis making toys. Sandy grabbed an elf and shook it like a bell. Everyone looked at him. He pointed at the moon annoyed and dropped the dizzy elf. "On Manny is contacting us, why did you say anything?" North asked.

"He doesn't talk." The shadow remarked then said to the yeti "try to add some 'age' to that train, it's supposed to be 'rusty', right?" Yeti smiled and thanked the shadow in some yeti langue. "Pitch! What are you doing here?" Bunnymund demanded with a boomerang in paw. "I'm not Pitch. My name is Zane Laskaris and I am from another universe." Zane bowed in greeting.

"I know your family. They are on the nice list most of the time." North said rolling up his sleeves to show off the words 'Naughty' and 'Nice', one on each arm. "what brings you to my workshop?" North said as a crystal rose from the floor. "Looks like Tsar Lunar XII (The Man in Moon's real name in this universe) is requiting another Guardian." Zane comments as everyone focus on the images reflected. The silhouette of Pitch, the boogeyman. "I knew it was Pitch!" North said as more silhouettes were shown: Mother Nature, Jack Frost, and the Bonded Blossom Keyblade.

"Why did it have to be that ankle biter. Anyone but him!" Bunnymund groaned. Tooth and her fairies were fangirling about Jack Frost's 'perfect teeth'. Sandy and North were more interested in what Mother Nature and the, to them, unknown key meant. "Phil, how long before they think to ask me what I think?" Zane asked the Yeti he gave advice. Phil signaled three minutes tops. As they waited, they talked about toy ideas.

Almost three minutes later, North asked, "Do you know anything about the odd key?" Zane had a hidden smirk. "I might know something, but it won't be free. Here's the contract you need to agree too." Zane wipes out a contract and hands it over. "Let's see the terms. 'In return for secrets form Zane Laskaris, I, (blank line), agree to exchange a secret of equal value.' Sounds fair." North says. Taking the inkwell of crimson ink and quill feather pen, ready to sign. "Hold it! Why is this even required?" Bunnymund said annoyed.

"Because it's a big information." Zane said then, in Greek, said, "There is no free lunch." North and Sandy nod at these wise words. Bunnymund groaned. "You Greeks love using that phrase. But the way, why are you a shadow?" he questioned. Zane dropped his shadowy state to show his normal attire. "It's easier to traverse the blizzard out there when you're flat as paper." Zane said cheekily. North did a full belly laugh at this. "very true. What kind of secrets are you interested in?" North asked. "making stuff secrets." Zane said whittling a log into a life size keyblade replica. "Hmm. I'm willing to part with those secrets It's not like you are asking for super-secret stuff." North said signing the contract. Zane took it back alone along with the inkwell and pen. "Pleasure doing business, my jolly friend." Zane said rolling it up.

"The keyblade is a weapon born of the heart and helps the wielder achieve their hidden talents and some other things. It's the ultimate skeleton key and 'alive' in a sense that it chooses who can use it." Zane said, honoring his deal of the deal. "That is all I can divulge without getting to things I can only tell other keyblade wielders and I'm the only one in this universe." He had started the details of the wooden keyblade replica as he let them take this in. "Ok, Keyblade expert, how is some oversized key going to help with Pitch?" Bunnymund asked. "Spoilers." Zane said amused, riling the bunny up. "You are so lucky to be helping us or I'd knock all the teeth out of your mouth." Bunnymund ground out, gripping his boomerangs harder.

"Focus on getting Jack Frost to come here, willingly. None of that 'throw him in a sack' business." Zane said looking pointedly at North, who was about to say that idea. "Invite him to a tear of the workshop. Phil told me he's tried sneaking in a lot of times." Zane suggested as Phil the yeti nodded in agreement.

A few hours later

Guardianverse

Earth

North Pole

North's workshop

"so, this is what it looks like on the inside." A blue skinned barefoot boy with a crocked staff commented as Phil gave him the tour. This was Jack Frost, a spirit with little to no memories of life as a human over 300 years ago and none of the memories of when he was Nightlight the protector of the child who became the Man in the Moon. Death had a lot of knowledge of the universe it ruled over squirreled away for those that are willing to make a deal to learn. In this case it was more of Zane needing to know somethings to get a task done for Death.

"If it isn't Jack Frost. Got to say you look quite young for someone over 300 years old." Zane said leaning on a pillar. "Not that I have much room to talk. Zane Laskaris, over 30,000 years old and still got thousands of years left in me." Zane introduced himself as everyone, and I mean everyone stared at him. "You are a living fossil." Jack Frost commented jokingly. "That I am. While everyone is slack jawed at my impressive age, I will take fill you in on somethings." He followed the bewildered Phil the yeti and explained why Jack was called.

A little later

In a side room after the tour

"Are you sure they want me to be a Guardian? But I'm just a 'troublemaker' who brings snow days." Jack said confused. Zane laughed. "sometimes it's a little chaos that saves the day. You have something they don't. You understand children much more than they do. Sure, you don't have any believers born in this universe yet, but you have a chance to change that." Zane said Jack was shellshocked. "You believe in me?" He asked. "yep. Hard not to when you've made tea for the Fae Queen and her guests on more than one occasion. My Universe has an Old Man Winter who is equally parts grouchy as he is a trickster with a habit of pranking me, his 'firry rival'. That's just one of the winter spirits I've met." Zane said getting Jack to smile.

"you are nicer than the seasonal spirits are. They seem to have a heavy bias against winter in general." Jack said remembering unpleasant encounters in the past. "after we beat Pitch, you will be Mother Nature's favorite seasonal spirit." Zane said with a knowing grin. "I guess being a Guardian won't be too bad." Jack said making his choice. "One last thing, Jack, everyone has a 'center' something that is their 'core driving force'. Mine is 'Protective Wrath', not really kid friendly but that's who I am." Zane said. "They need us in the main room." Zane guided him out.

In the main room

"Pitch is attacking the Tooth's Palace." North said ushering everyone to follow him. They piled on to the sleigh and were told to 'buckle up' even if there wasn't any means to do so.

On snow globe teleport later

Guardianverse

Earth

Southeast Asia

Punjam Hy Loo

They arrived at a scene of chaos as horses of black sand, Nightmares, were 'eating' fairies and golden tubes, before traveling somewhere else. "They're stealing the teeth!" Tooth said as Zane slice through the Nightmares with his keyblade. Even as they tried their hardest, all but one fairy and a handful teeth tubes were recovered. Inside of the Indian styled palace with mosaic decor, Pitch Dark, a slender tall pale man taunted them from the shadows. "My, my, if it isn't the Guardians." Pitch said as he appeared from different shadows. "What's this? Jack Frost? I didn't know you were with them." Pitch said amused.

"What of it? I can't have you ruining snow days for the kids." Jack Frost said. "How quite." Pitch said dryly then appeared next to Zane, Zane noticed but let Pitch think he was undetected. "And hope is this. An Adult Human who can see us, and so full of nightmares." Pitch said jumping away as North tried to take his head off with a pair of sabers. "That weapon is so interesting as well." Pitch said as he vanished leaving his fading laughter as a parting gift.

"All the teeth are gone." Tooth said drooping on the floor. "Not quite. I snagged a few." Zane handed them to her. "What's so important about the teeth?" Jack asked. "They hold memories. And It's Tooth's jobs to collect and protect these memories." North said as he looked at what teeth tubes were saved. The Guardians' teeth tubes, a few kids, and one labeled 'Jackson Overland'. That name nagged at him furiously because it was a child from many years ago. Something happened and he stopped appearing on his lists. His younger sister was on his list for while after but not him.

"Would my memories be here?" Jack asked as Baby Tooth, the only fairy they saved, sat in his hoodie's hood. "Do you remember what your human name was?" Bunnymund asked, arms crossed tapping his foot annoyed. "Without that who knows where it is." Zane plucked the teeth tube North was puzzled about. "Think back to when you were chosen." Zane told Jack. "I came up from the frozen pond near Burgess and I was told my name." Jack said. "It's my earliest memory other than one of drowning in cold water."

"Jackson Overland, a teen who lost his life getting his sister off the pond you call home. He fell the thin ice and drown." Zane said giving Jack the Teeth Tube. "You are that child and so much more, Jack." Zane looked at Jack in the eye as he said this. "You saved your sister that day and that is one of the reasons you were chosen by Tsar Lunar XII." As Jack view his human memories the others had questions.

"How is it that you know that Man in the Moon's true name? And what is your role in stopping Pitch?" Bunnymund asked. "You are a wildcard and I don't like wildcards as troublesome as you." Zane was looking outside. The Nightmares he had 'defeated' hadn't reformed like everyone else's 'kills' had. The black sand had turned a reddish gold and drifted about lazily. "Sandy, Dream Sand is gold, right?" Zane asked. He gave a thumbs up. "then why is reddish looking?" He asked. Sandy shrugged and tried to draw it to him, it swirled into a hawk that perched on Zane's shoulder and turned up a beak at Sandy.

"Why do I have the memory of stabbing Pitch with diamond dagger?" Jack asked confused. The guardians looked at him. Zane, on the other hand, laughed. "Of all the memories you have from that time, it your first death that you remember. Who here knows about Nightlight?" Zane asked. Only Jack was in the dark. "In Nightlight's last fight to keep the forces of darkness and fear from winning, he died and was granted a human life." Zane stated.

"in the Overland family, making Jack Nightlight's third life." North stated "Makes sense Manny (North's name for the Man in the Moon) would want to make his protector happy." A bunch of pipe foxes, carrying bags of teeth greeted Zane. "Right on time." Zane said taking the teeth and giving them a reward for their hard work. "You collected the teeth and left quarters?" Tooth asked. "I can't let Pitch snuff out the children's belief." Zane said under pile of cuddly pipe foxes.

"Easter is around the corner." Bunnymund said, then he remembered something. "I lost the spare snow glob you gave me somewhere in Burgess because of an ice patch that he made at some point." Bunnymund told North pointing at Jack who was snickering, remembering the face the bunny made as he slipped and fell into a snowbank. "I hope no one used it. It can take you anywhere." North said. "I think Jamie was near there when I left. He almost saw me." Jack commented with a smile.

"That's wonderful! That means he has some belief that you are real!" Tooth said hugging Jack and twirling him around. "Let me think." North said thinking back to the children that came from Jack's sister's family tree. "The Bennett family is at least loosely connected to the Overlands. A lot can happen over 300 years." North commented. He remembered the names of all the children that ever believed in him. It helped him figure out families over the years. "That's cool. I've got family." Jack said overjoyed as Bunnymund tapped the ground, opening a path to the Warren, his underground home. "Come along. We've got eggs to paint." Bunnymund said jumping down the hole.

One amazing and fun tunnel slide later

Guardianverse

Earth

Under Easter Island

The Warren

They tumbled on to soft grass as giant walking stone eggs watched the entrance valiantly. There were moss-covered ruins around them as they got their bearings. "Home sweet home." Bunnymund said breathing in deeply. "BUNNY!" a child's voice was heard saying, followed by an boys voice saying, "Wait! Sophie get back here!" A two-year-old girl, with blonde hair that covered half her face wearing blue PJs, ran up to Bunnymund and hugged his leg. Her brown haired ten-year-old older brother panted as he caught up to her. "Sophie, I don't know how a snow globe got us here, but you keep running after a bunny?" Jamie trailed off as he followed the leg she was hugging to its owner. "The Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Sandman, Santa Claus." Jamie pointed to each Guardian then paused on Jack. "Jackson Overland?" He said confused. "Are you a ghost?" Zane laughed at this question.

"He is that ancestor of yours but he's also Jack Frost, the spirit of winter." Zane said. Jamie's eyes widened. "I'm related to Jack Frost! That's better than meeting a Laskaris!" Jamie said hugging Jack. Zane coughed into his fist. "I am Hearth Leader Zane Laskaris. It's a little annoying that I rank below that but he's family, so I'll let it slide." The Guardians were smirking at him and the pipe foxes were snickering softly. "Thank you, sir. Can I have your autograph?" Jamie said. Zane handed over one. Jamie put it in his pocket gratefully.

"How did you get into my Warren?" Bunnymund asked as Sophie climbed on to his back like a monkey. "I found this cool snow glob near where I saw a sew through figure that looked like the ghost of my family's more 'free spirited' members, according to the tales mom told me." Jamie explained. "It was after a pipe fox took my tooth and left a coin that Sophie came in a shook the snow glob."

"She said 'Bunny', right?" North said getting the picture. "She wanted to find the Easter Bunny, so it took you here." He leans in and stage whispers "Trade secret but that's how I get around the world in one night." Jamie grinned and promised not to tell anyone.

Zane got Sophie off Bunnymund before she pulled on his ears or something. "How about we help the Easter Bunny paint eggs. It is a few days until Easter morning." Zane said and Sophie grinned.

Later that evening

Guardianverse

Earth

The USA

Burgess

Zane had returned the kids to their home and left a bunny plushy for Sophie to keep. It was made to look somewhat like Bunnymund and even had two boomerangs holstered on its back (not removable in any way). "If it isn't the wildcard." Pitch said. "Your nightmares are much more potent than any child in the Dark Ages ever had." Pitch's voice was full of arrogance and annoyance "I wander what happens when I drown you in Nightmare Sand." Chains shot from the woods and dragged Zane into a pit of the black sand before he could do anything. "This is all of my Nightmare forces, so it won't be so easy to escape." Pitch said as Zane sunk into it. "I can't wait to use your nightmares to ruin Easter." Pitch laughed and left to make for Nightmare Sand.

A few days later

Guardianverse

Earth

The USA

Burgess

"I don't know how you did it, but I will not be stopped just because that bird of yours protected the eggs." Pitch yelled at Sandy as the Guardians cornered Pitch. The sand in the pit still looked black as a beast formed from it. It looked like a Dark Hide but bigger and deadlier looking. "What are you talking about? That's Zane's bird." North said. "Still fighting even after I used him to make my greatest creation yet." Pitch said as the beast roared making itself known.

"Deal with them." Pitch ordered but as the beast tried to move it groaned as if in pain. "Fight it, Zane!" Jack said as they fought the Nightmares and Pitch. Jack had found his 'center' was 'Fun', so he was pelting Pitch with joy giving snowballs. They seemed to cause him pain. From within the beast Zane's voice was heard. "Bounded Blossom, Third Form: Cosmic Garden Thorn." The Beast exploded as Zane flew at Pitch and impaled him with a spear that looked like a starry colored wooden shaft with flowering vines corkscrewing the length of it. A feather tassel fluttered as Zane said, "It's time for your nightmare to end."

Pitch 'exploded' as darkness seemed to be forced out and converted into the weird Dream Sand like the hawk. When everyone else could see again, Pitch was gone. In his place on the ground was red haired man wearing golden armor and a red cape. His skin was pale but far from Pitch's level of paleness. "Welcome back, Kozmotis Pitchiner." Zane said coughing out the dream sand he had swallowed. The 'dream hawk' swooped in and absorbed the converted sand before resting on the shoulder of a newcomer to the 'party'. She was woman with long black hair and wearing a cloud like cloak.

"Thank you, Zane." She said petting the hawk. She had a regal air about her but a kind face. "Emily, the next time you call in a favor, bring me a thank you gift for when I'm finished helping you." Zane said. The woman was Emily Jane Pitchiner aka Mother Nature. "That's Mother Nature?" Jack said, having never met her before. "Things are making sense, save for one thing." North said. Bunnymund butted in "What happened to Pitch and why didn't you say the keyblade could transform into a spear?"

Zane laughed in a coughing way. "Pitch wasn't always Pitch." He started. To sum things up. Before the Man in the Moon was born, Kozmotis Pitchiner served his parents empire and battled Fearlings and their pirate allies. The Fearlings were put in a vault with him guarding it for years. But they tricked him and took his body by burying his heart under their essence. Emily was his daughter, so she refused to take part in the Guardians' conflict with Pitch, until now. She learned of Zane having a keyblade and hoped he could free her father.

Kozmotis Pitchiner woke up towards the end explanation. "I really hate waking up on the ground." Kozmotis said, making his spear appear and used it as a crutch to stand up. "How long has it been?" Kozmotis asked. "Too long, Father." Mother Nature said hugging him for the first time in hundreds of years. The hawk cried out as it turned into a Keyblade. The handle was the wings of the hawk, the shaft was the odd Dream Sand, the teeth were outstretching talons that were translucent (a little see through), and the keychain was a bed. It had long reach and had the 'sleep' effect to its strikes. "I'll call this 'Swift Dreamer'." Zane said dismissing it.

"Sorry about stealing a bunch of Dream Sand, Sandy." Zane said but Sandy waved it off. He had more than enough to last for eternity. "You were one hell of a wildcard." Bunnymund admitted. "The eggs you painted were top notch." Zane shook hands with Bunnymund then looked for the flask of water he had for when he crossed sandy dry places. "When you are long lived, you pick up a few hobbies. Making stuff is nice for a pyro like myself." Zane admitted after a drink. "Like what?" Tooth asked. "a little of everything, but more focused on things that last more than a moment. Fire can be beautiful alone but it's what it can make when mixed with other things that is amazing." Zane said.

Zane demonstrated by turning a bucket of sand into molten glass then shaped it into a detailed figurine of Tooth. "That is amazing. How did it not burn you?" North asked. "I control flames and, to a lesser degree, molten material that is 'hot'." Zane said making one of each of them. Each one had them in some pose. Kozmotis' had him with a war scythe mid swing and sword sheathed on his hip. "It's been nice, but I got things to deal with back home. I've got this really bad feeling something is going to sidetrack me on the way back." Zane said as he opened a portal and entered.

Five minutes later

Fae owned universe (The Gargoyles universe)

Earth

New York City

Zane fell on to a hard-stone parapet, back first. "ok, I'm on a castle tower and there's clouds below me?" Zane said staring at a bird's eye view of New York City. He tried to get free, but he was wedged between two of the parapet 'teeth'. With a sigh he watched the sunset with only a stone winged beast in 'the Thinker's pose' for company. "I don't feel like falling so I'll just wait for the rich as hell owner to see who's intruding." Zane said as the last rays vanished. He heard cracking from his stony company.

The gargoyle roared as he streatched. He had a black colored buzzcut, lavender skin, wore a loincloth, and was quite intimidatingly strong looking.

"Hey, I know I'm sort of intruding, but a portal spat me out above here." Zane explained quickly. In a deep voice, the gargoyle commented. "You humans messing with magic." He looks at the stone around Zane. "there is a scroll behind your neck with some spell locking you to that spot." He stated. Zane groaned. "I knew sensed fae magic nearby." Zane reached for the scroll as more gargoyles climbed up to greet the first on.

"Goliath, who is the human and why is he stuck like a turtle on its back?" A Scottish soundly, tan skinned gargoyle, who wore black armor and had a white beard he was scratching in thought. "Another human trick by the Fae, Hudson." Goliath said. "I'm Brooklyn." A red skinned gargoyle, with a beakier face, said. "The one that looks like an olive-green scaly flying is Lexington." Said gargoyle nods. "Big blue here is Broadway." He gestures to a light blue stockier gargoyle. "And that is Bronx." He says a blue gargoyle version of a dog runs up the stairs to sniff Zane. "Got it!" Zane said as he grabbed the scroll. The thing keeping him from falling stopped and the only reason he did fall was Bronx biting his ankle and pulling backwards.

Now safe from falling, Zane opened the scroll. "'To my favorite human, it has come to my attention that I haven't heard from my daughter. Tell her I said 'Hello'. -Lady Titania, Queen of the Fae P.S: Please stay in this universe for a year and day.' Oh, come on! I was just heading home." Zane throw the scroll after failing to rip it up. "you know the Fae Queen?" Goliath asked. "Not only does he know her, but he wears her sign." Hudson says tapping the ring on Zane's finger. "I have seen that band of 'not metal' on only a few beings. The Fae she has a vested interest in, and humans she trusts greatly," Hudson listed. "Zane here is in the latter group."

"She has some plan in mind. She probably knows were all the children she's had are at any moment!" Zane ranted, trying slice, stab, burn, crumble or stamp it. It remained pristine and whole. "What's going on up here? A blue skinned red-haired female gargoyle, Demona, demanded as she was followed by two humans one of which that Zane punched on sight yelling "Punk! This is for the last prank you pulled on my daughter!" The disguised Fae was thrown off the tower and landed with a thump on the courtyard below. "That felt so good." Zane said calming down. "It's so nice to punch something that you know can feel it."

David Xanatos, a dark haired and bearded human who owned the building and castle on top of it, picked up the scroll and read its contents. He arched a brow and said. "My Mother-law is as crafty as ever. Fox will not be happy to hear her muddling again." He looks at Zane and asked, "How did you see through Owen's glamor?" Zane showed Xanatos the ring. "ahh. That makes sense." He said as puck, in his impish real form floated up annoyed. "Did you have to punch that hard? All I did was turn your daughter's hair pink. It's not like, her normal hair color is normal for a human." Punk ran his mouth and was rewarded with Zane throwing Pale Nail (Spear) at him. Puck was dragged away as the spear pined his cloths to the outer tower on the opposite side of the castle.

"That should teach him not to make my daughter cry." Zane said annoyed. "Impeccable aim, for a human." Demona said. The other gargoyles were on guard around her, not by much but she must have betrayed their trust as some point in the past. Zane leaned his head to the side as his spear was thrown from behind. As it past him, he grabbed the shaft. "You have to better than that to kill a Laskaris!" Zane yelled at Punk, was frustrated at the failed payback.

"Doesn't he look like that human that got tricked by the fae back in the tenth century?" Hudson asked Goliath. "You're right. He was a lot like that stranger that stayed at the castle. What Clan did he say he hailed from?" Goliath said to his second-in-command. "I don't remember but the more I hear Zane talk more likely he's related." Hudson said as Puck and Zane tried insults. "Eat fireball! Mega Flare!" Zane cast spell blasting Puck flying. "I win." He said smugly. "He is most defiantly related with firepower like that." Hudson said with a laugh. "Did a family member write anything about meeting puck in the past?" Hudson asked Zane.

"Oh! You mean Brother Briar. Yeah, he got stuck in this Fae 'playground' of a universe for exactly a year and a day. That's the rules the Fae put in place in the gate's creation. Any Fae can send a target here for at least a year and a day. Brother Briar also wrote that down." Zane said recalling the writings of Briar Laskaris, who died over half a millennia ago. "He spent his last century alive making gargoyle like golems that were so real, I swear they were alive."

Later

In David Xanatos's home (The upper floors of the skyscraper the castle rested on)

"So, my mother sent someone to 'check on me'." Fox Xanatos, a good looking red haired fair skinned woman with a blue fox head tattoo over one of her eyes, said holding a child in her arms. She was David Xanatos' wife. "Who's this little buddle of joy?" Zane asked as the baby boy reached for the rings on Zane's fingers. "His name is Alexander Fox Xanatos, but that's a bit of a mouthful." Fox said smiling at her son. "Would you mind if I showed Alex something cool?" Zane asked. Fox let him summon Ruby Carbuncle, who captured the baby's attention completely. "What an adorable creature you summoned." Fox said as Ruby Carbuncle stared back at the baby. It sat on Fox's shoulder to get a closer look.

"This summon is mainly for support and is absolutely fascinated by young children." Zane said following Fox to the nursery, where she set Alex down for a nap. Ruby Carbuncle 'stood guard' over the baby. "I see what you mean." Fox said as they made their way to the living room. Xanatos was waiting for them. "I wonder if you'd explain what Puck did in detail." He asked. Puck, in his blonde-haired human guise, served them tea. "I didn't do anything to it." Owen (aka Puck) said before leaving them alone.

"Electra was asked by Lady Titania to sing for her and a few others, including the Fae King." Zane said. "She practiced the song hard and had me make a dress that complemented her blue hair she gets from her mother. Just as she finished and waited for Titania to say what she liked about it, then Puck happened." Zane said. "How bad was it?" Fox asked with a wince. "He poured some magic dye over her, Carrie style. Her hair was hot rod pink and her dress was ruined." Zane shook his head at the memory. Luckily, Lady Titania knew how to fix it. It'd help that Electra feared for her health because that 'prank'. Punk made himself scarce and has been not willing to be near the Fae royalty for the past three years."

"I can see why you'd want to punch him for that. What is the time difference from this place and yours?" Xanatos asked. "All over the place. Could be the same or a faction of the time back home. If all else fails, I'll just cash in a favor." Zane said with a shrug. "Smart plan. Are you aware there is other clans of gargoyles around?" Xanatos stated to explain the various things he did in the past. robotic, cybernetic, and even genetically altered humans were some of the things he to 'make' loyal gargoyles that would help advance his plans in the past. He also talked about a naturally created clan that was started after some of the gargoyles were trapped in a place that was longer for them than it was for those not trapped.

"Your 'pet' has taught Alex how to make a 'bubble'." Owen informed them. "Is it a dangerous spell?" Fox asked. "it's just the 'Protect' spell from the White Magic School. It's not harmful useless you attack the 'bubble'. It'd be like punching a window." Zane explained.

Back in Zane's home dimension

The Garden

The Palace Ballroom

After Zane got back home, he had found out it had been a few months at best. "How have things been for you?" Zane asked Aqua as they did a waltz dance. The ever happy to help Heartless set up a ballroom party for them. "It's been hectic but return here to find you waiting for me is worth it." Aqua told him. "How many dances do you know?" She wondered. "plenty of them. You never know when you'll need the Fox Trot to solve a problem." Zane said with a smirk. "I thought you learned that to impress me." Aqua said with a knowing smile. "If dancing is the way to show my love for you, I will learn as many as I can." He said as they kissed.

Zane time in the Fae 'playground' had been rather uneventful he traveled a bit and learned the Fox Trot to pass the time.

Few months later

World of Games

Japan, Kaiba Dome

Zane was bored. He had to sit all day while applicants were tested to see if they would get into Duel Academy. Worse news was he wasn't allowed to test anyone because Kaiba wanted them to pass. "There are some interesting duelists here. Will this 'School' have more of them?" Aleister the Invoker, a robed duel spirit holding a staff and a book that summoned monsters, asked. He was a part of Zane's newest deck. It used The Invoked and Dragonmaid archetypes to get powerful monster out easier. It was mostly dragon monsters but there were other monsters in the deck as well. "Duel Academy has all sorts of duelists. That's not counting the other duel schools out there, East and North Academy respectively. When comes to duelists, they tend to be not normal." Zane told Aleister, who grinned. "I can't wait to unleash my summons on them." He said with a creepy laugh.

A dark-haired maid, with horns a red and white dragon tail with dark blue spikes, appeared from Zane's deck and wacked him upside the head. "we are to teach them, not scar them for life." She said pushing up her glasses. This was House Dragonmaid the fusion 'boss monster' of the Dragonmaid archetype. "Why do you always hit me so hard? One of these days you'll kill me." Aleister said rubbing his head. "You are too think headed for that to happen." House Dragonmaid said in the same professional tune she always used.

"Would Jaden Yuki report to test field three." The PA system announced. "well, this will be interesting." Zane said as Vellian Crowler stepped up to duel Jaden. , as he liked to be called, was a blonde haired man with a preferred style that made it hard to figure out his gender. He was using his 'Dual Vest' instead of a normal duel disk. The barter he and Jaden were having told him they were acting just like when they were in the 'Magitech' unit. On top of that, Dr. Crowler was using his personal deck, an Ancient Gear deck, and not holding back at all. "They still haven't changed at all. Fighting like cats and dogs but not hating each other." Zane sighed. "I swear I had to break them up so many times. Maybe they will get along better after finally dueling each other." Zane hoped as the duel went from a 'test' to a battle to decide who is the better duelist.

Watching from the railings above was Zane Truesdale, a teal-haired third year Obelisk Blue student, and Alexis Rhodes, a curvy blonde haired second year Obelisk Blue student. To the explain the dorm set up you need to remember that Kaiba has an ego. At the top was Obelisk Blue, best of the best score wise, or because they throw enough money to get into that dorm. Next was Ra Yellow, not the best or the worst score wise. And last was Silifer Red, where everyone else stayed. Technically you could choice any of the dorms you qualify for but lower the rank of the dorm is, less luxurious it was. The Red Dorm was a shack near one of the cliffs on the island.

"He hasn't lost his edge." Zane Truesdale commented. He had kept an eye on the duel tournaments Jaden had competed in over the last few years. "He wasn't at the Duelist Prep School, I would know." Alexis commented as Jaden summoned Yubel. "I've never heard of that card before. I don't think Crowler knows about its effects ether." Alexis comments as Ancient Gear Golem attacked Yubel. Instend of Jaden losing 3000 life points, because Yubal has zero attack/defense points and Crowler's monster had 3000 attack points, it was Crowler's life points to take the hit, netting the win for Jaden. "Any monster that attack Yubel causes their controller to lose the life points instead." Zane Truesdale explained.

"Is Crowler smiling?" Alexis asked as Crowler and Jaden shook hands promising to duel again to see who better. "Just like back then, trying to get better than the other at whatever they chose to compete at. Professor Laskaris is probably hoping they bury the hatchet finally." Zane Truesdale stated with a smirk. "So, the rumor is true? The Zane Laskaris is teaching this year? That makes things very interesting with the "MagiTech' unit business. I'm still annoyed about the mess it made. Magic is real and people can be taken to go to war." Alexis said, looking for Professor Laskaris.

"Please be careful. We wouldn't want you to fall because you are looking for Lord Zane." A curvy red-haired maid, with blue horns and a red dragon tail, cautioned as she pulled Alexus from the edge, despite being a duel spirit and normal very ghost like. She was Kitchen Dragonmaid, another one of the new Duel spirits Zane was entrusted. "How are you pulling me? Aren't Duel Spirits like ghosts?" Alexis asked. "My Lord has more energy than most duelist. The Duel Spirits that serve him can draw on that energy to be 'more solid'." Kitchen Dragonmaid stated with a kind smile. "I hope this satisfies your question."

"Your apart of that new archetype that was released." Zane Truesdale stated. "That is true. Not many feel 'maids' are worth using." Kitchen Dragonmaid said with a tint of sorrow. "I'm sure Professor Laskaris will change that. He changed the face of Duel Monsters when he showed any card can be useful when paired with the right cards." Alexis said. She had read the works Zane published about the Atlantean war how it was won. "That is why we entrusted our cards to him." Kitchen Dragonmaid said with a smiled but it turned to frown as she said. "All Alister wants is someone that will let him show off his prowess at summoning 'demons'."

A few hours later

Duel Academy Island

Zane's 'office' near the Red Dorm

"Home sweet home." Zane said. It was modest building that Kaiba had built for him to stay at when he was teaching here. It required a few touches, but he had a month before the tests at the Kaiba Dome to make the changes. Classes started tomorrow and he was looking forward to an interesting few years. The Dragonmaid Duel Spirits got to work cleaning the place. Well, Laundry Dragonmaid was trying but she wasn't that good at her job. Her blue furred dragon tail was frazzled as she tried to gather up the dirty clothes she scattered when she stumbled. "Don't rush it." Zane said kindly ruffling her light blue hair. She hugged him around the waist saying she'd do better next time.

"You are wonderful for her confidence. She fumbles half as much as she did before we met you." A greenish blonde-haired maid, with green horns and a green dragon tail, said as she set a tray of biscotti and other tea cakes. "Tea is nearly ready." The Duel Spirit, Parlor Dragonmaid, said as Laundry Dragonmaid returned to her task. "All she needs to do, is to slow down. Most of the times she's fumbled is because she's trying to impress me by doing it as fast as possible." Zane said with a sigh. "She is the youngest of our group." Parlor Dragonmaid said as she returned with the tea pot and two teacups.

Lyman Banner, a gray-haired man wearing glasses and fellow professor, sat down on one of the free couches. He had brought his 'fluffy' brown tiger striped cat 'Pharaoh' with him to this meeting. "He has contacted him as you predicted." Banner said. "He introduced me to Camula and she apparently knows you?" Banner was taking about the vampire that Zane had tracked down to help the vampire Duel Spirits. Zane knew someone would want the Sacred Beast cards, so he got few of the members secretly be on his side. Other than Banner and Camula, Zane had a shape shifting tiger that was also an Amazon named Tania to help him. They would 'join' the Shadow Riders and feed him information. They had their own goals and Zane was willing to help them.

"Yes, I am acquainted with a vampire of that name." Zane says, dunking a tea cake into the tea. Banner coughed politely and asked, "Is that a reason you are bringing in metrics tons of sand, wood, and stone among other things for the past few weeks?" The Duel Spirit of Hercules walked past the room with a giant crate of metal wire. Banner hears the heavy footsteps get quieter, then just vanishing. "Art of course. Now, you need to tell me if you were behind the 'Shadow Magic Club' Incident." Zane had been smiling but as he asked his question, Banner realized he couldn't move. Zane pointed at the floor and the words 'no lies' glowed in runic lettering.

"I wasn't a teacher until after it happened." Banner said looking back at Zane. "A few years ago, students had the idea to dabble in 'Shadow Magic'. They even had Titan, the 'Shadow Duelist', hired to provide his 'expertise', even if he was a fraud that used hypnosis." Zane's eyebrow twitched at that name. He despised that con artist. "Who hired him?" Zane asked. "The leader of the Shadow Riders, of course. Somehow, they tapped into the shadow realm and everyone was swallowed up in. Atticus Rhodes was 'volunteered' to be at the 'sacrificed'." Banner explained what was known.

"more pawns for the Shadow Rider Roster if they survive the trip." Zane said, dispelling the runes. "The Abandoned Dorm has been sealed up tighter than Fort Knots as soon as I finished investigated it. That is unpleasant to be near." Zane said as Banner relaxed. His Zane just yawned as he napped next to his 'human'. "Did you look at the test scores?" Banner asked. "Despite, Jaden acing his practical exam, he bombed half the written exam." Zane slumped in defeat. You had to teach Jaden things in context of Duel Monsters. "How bad?" Zane asked. "He almost got into Ra Yellow but lacked a few points to get him over the edge." Banner said.

"Girls! Have you gathered the stuff for the Slifer Red Welcome Feast?" Zane asked down the hall. "We will show those snobs in Blue with cost effective food that is better than their lobster feast ever will be!" Kitchen Dragonmaid declared with a fire in her eyes. "She is very passionate." Banner stated as he collects his cat in his arms. "I can't wait to see how the students will react." He said with mirth.

Zane chuckled as Banner left. He wasn't sure how Pegasus learned about shape shifting Dragons being maids, but he had a feeling it was connected the Eye he no longer had. It would explain the cards he started to make that could fit in just about any deck without throwing the balance off too much. Zane walked the halls of the house and didn't stop at any of the doors. Instead, he walked to a tall bookcase that swung inward, despite it being against one of the outer walls.

Beyond the Bookcase

Zane entered a hallway that extended and branched off beyond the boundaries of the building. The bookcase closed behind him as he walked the along the hallway. This was a space he recreated from a book he read growing up, with his own twist on it. It was fun to make and even more amusing to see guests drive themselves up the wall trying to figure why the house felt 'off' to them.

His footsteps were totally silent as he made a lot of 'random' turns to arrive at a door that looked the same as the rest, unlabeled and made of wood. He opened the door and entered a gun range obstacle course. He grabbed a crossbow off the wall and strapped on a quiver of bolts. This was the closest Zane got to using a bow with any noteworthy level of skill. Crossbows, and types of thrown weapons were his best long range means of attack in worlds that didn't know what a 'gun' was.

"Time to see if I can shave some time off my record." Zane said, drawing and loading the crossbow. As he ran the course, he remembered why he trained himself like this. He had been asked to go to a primitive world with little means to attack enemies immune to magic and elemental attacks. It was to near to fight with swords or pole arms so Zane had to fight hand to hand or with whatever thrown weapon he could find on the way. His aim got better quickly to avoid being killed in some maze full of monsters and a lot of loot at the end.

Crossbows had power a decent range in the hands of a master. Zane planned every shot and wasted no time, avoiding hitting 'non-enemy' cutouts that popped out along with the 'enemy' ones. Zane remembered what Hawkeye had said "Always be ready to move to new a location when snipping. A spotted Sniper is a dead one, unless you're me." His ego showed in his advice, but it was good advice none the less. Zane checked his time. "shaved off a minute, not bad." Zane commented as the bolts were collected by robotic arms, who cleaned up the course after each run. He sat down behind the desk to review where he could improve.

A few hours later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Slifer Red Dorm

"Normally we would be having a not as good feast." Banner told the red jacketed students. "But Professor Laskaris and his wonderful staff has come through with a something different." He signaled for everyone to remove the cloches in front of them. It was a heavenly stew with a side salad and roasted garlic bread. "It appears to be a fisherman's stew." Jaden tells Syrus Truesdale quietly. "I've never heard of that before. What's in it?" Syrus asked defogging his glasses to see the stew better. "Fisherman's stew made with a stock, random veggies, and whatever the fisherman caught that day. Chumley Huffington, an older Slifer Red Student with facial features almost like a koala and a heavy-set body, was their roommate at the Slifer Red Dorm. He wasn't the best Duelist, but he didn't want to work at his dad's alcohol company. "It's a simple dish but can taste different every time." Chumley said shifting the chunks of veggies to identify the fish. "sea bass, clam, and tuna. Not the most expensive seafood but it looks good."

"Wow, I didn't know you knew so much about food." Jaden said impressed. "I also know that this was not made by a human." Chumley said as everyone ate. "The cuts are so uniform it's one of two possibilities. A human chief with unholy knife skills or a it was a Duel Spirit that made the cuts." Jaden nodded. "Might have been a Dragonmaid. I heard they are passion about making sure you are welcomed and enjoy hospitality." Jaden commented.

"Professor Laskaris lives in a house about five to ten minutes' walk from here." Syrus said. Banner had something to announce. "As you know, Professor Laskaris, our newest staff member, currently lives near this Dorm. He is willing to help any student. Just fill out a request for an appointment and you will be informed when he can help."

A few weeks

World of Games

Duel Academy

A lecture hall

"Who can name a card that helps with decks that rely on field spells?" Zane said in full teacher mode. Among the raised hands was Syrus. "Syrus Truesdale, name the card and why you believe it to be that useful." Zane requested, without even turning from the chalk board he was writing on. "Planet Pathfinder a level four earth machine effect monster with low attack/defense but can be tribute to search the deck for a field spell." Syrus said sweating. "Excellent choice. Class, please not this monster can be used to get ANY Field Spell." Zane said as Syrus sat down with a sigh of relief. "As your teacher it is my job to help grow as people and duelists. That is why I encourage you not to overlook any card or person you encounter."

Hearing some of the snobbier Obelisk Blue Students scoff at this, he flicked chalk that bounced off five heads and made the sixth target cough as the chalk piece turned into a dust cloud in his face. "Keep your egos at the door because they have no place when I am teaching." Zane said, still not looking at them as he wrote on the chalkboard. After a few more classes Professor Zane Laskaris became knew as the 'Sharpshooter' who could bounce chalk, erasers, and other small bits with insane skill. He was also known as a teacher who was willing to help any of the students when had the time.

A few weeks later

World of Games

Duel Academy

The Chancellor office

"You wanted to see me, Chancellor Sheppard." Zane said. The bald bearded man steepled his fingers with a flat look on his face. "Professor Laskaris, you have had a lot of complaints filed against you." Chancellor Sheppard shuffled through a large pile of complaints. "Unfair grading, unwarranted detentions, 'snipping' your students? Care to give your side before I pass judgement?" Zane pulled up a chair and leafed through the complaints. "These were all justified. Every student complaining is rude snob who got in by their parents' money. Soon as a teacher who treats them like everyone else comes along, they feel threatened and lash out like this." Zane said.

"I caught this student trying to cheat off a Ra Yellow." He is pointing to one of the complaints. "bullying, laziness, general nastiness to everyone, and langue unfit for a classroom." Zane said dividing up the complaints into piles of why he punished said student. "I see that my next choice is the right one." Chancellor Sheppard sweeps all the piles into a bin and lights it on fire. "They will get to think about why lying to me is a bad idea while they serve a few months of detention." Chancellor Sheppard said with a smile.

"I'm happy with the grade average your teaching brought up. It shows you understand the students' needs." Chancellor Sheppard said impressed. "Keep this up and you might take my job." He joked. "No way. My current job is good enough." Zane said quickly. "There has been attempts at breaching places students don't belong. No one breached the runes but some of the attempts came from the shadows." Chancellor Sheppard grimaced at this. "that is not good. By six months at the latest, the Shadow Riders will make their move." He muttered as a storm raged outside.

"There are plans around plans in the works. I can't tell you these plans, but you will not be alone when the Shadow Riders come knocking for the spirit keys." Zane said, "How has the 'Mysterious Artist' investigation been going?" Zane asked lightening the mood. Chancellor Sheppard laughed whole heartedly. "swimmingly. All three Dorms are working together, astounding as that is to hear, to figure out who's been placing the statues and art pieces all over the island. Keep up the good work."

A few months later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's 'Duel Manor'

"Welcome back Chazz." Zane said to the bratty former Obelisk Blue student, who in a chain of stupid choices, ran away to North Academy to get away from Jaden, duel him at the school duel off, left North Academy to rejoin Duel Academy and expected to go back to the blue dorm. "So, are you going to get me back in blue?" Chazz asked putting his black jacket back on and fixing his hair in it's dark spikey look. "Boss, why are you talking to this guy?" Ojama Yellow, a Duel spirit that looked like a big lipped yellow monster with two eye stalks and wearing a speedo, asked "He's familiar for some reason." Ojama Yellow's eye stalks stretched out to look closer. "Shut up, pest!" Chazz said annoyed.

"You are starting at the bottom, Dorm wise." Zane said. "To be fair, I've had some work done to the Red Dorm to make it safer to live in." Zane said before grumbling under his breathe about 'issues' he uncovered. "How bad is it?" Chazz ground out. "not as good as Ra Yellow but it's clean. You are free to make changes if you have the cash do it. Here's the updated student contract." Zane slides the piece of paper for Chazz to sign. "All I have to do is provide the cash and you will upgrade my new room? I can deal with living the Slifer Reds." Chazz said as Ojama Yellow wiped out custom glasses to read the contract.

"Boss! That's a clause about Duel Spirits! It says that any problem the spirit causes can be pinned on the card holder of said spirit." Ojama Yellow read out loud. "Just great. That's just what I need." Chazz groaned. Zane brought out a laptop. "Your 'brothers' are challenging you to win the school. Kaiba seems to trust you to represent him and beat them but you can't use monsters over 1000 attack points." Zane said grimly. Playing the message meant for Chazz. "How am I going to beat him? The monster I got is this yellow pest!" Chazz demanded. "Sign the contract and I will give you an army of 'weaklings' that you can us to crush him." Zane said. "You don't need to worry about your brothers for few weeks."

After Chazz signed the contract, Zane guided his to the 'weird hallway'. "Boss! We aren't in the house anymore! I don't think we are on the island ether." Ojama Yellow said shivering. Zane guided them to a room full of 'weak' cards. "Welcome to the card resort. All the cards thrown into that old well are brought here." Zane said as four duel spirits greeted them. Ojama Black, a black big nosed, small eyed, toothy grinning creature wearing the same red speedo all Ojama wore. Ojama Green, a green skinned creature with a big eye and long tongue. With Ojama Yellow, they were the Ojama Brothers. Ojama Blue, a small mouthed but big headed blue skinned creature, and Ojama Red, a red skinned onion headed creaute with a huge mouth and wearing a red scarf along with the speedo, were 'Ojama cousins' to the Brothers.

"Welcome back Battle Master Zane." The four said bowing midair. "Boys, I found a Duelist that needs you." Zane said as Ojama Yellow was bugging out, because he found his family and because Zane was super famous among the Duel Spirits. "Boss! You know the Legendary War Hero as a TEACHER! That's amazing!" Ojama Yellow declared as he got dog piled by his brothers and 'cousins' who were crying tears of joy.

A few days later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Inside the volcano

Zane was sitting with Chumley and Syrus inside a 'bubble' sitting in a claw of the life size Red Eyes Darkness Dragon Statue placed in the volcano. It was the middle of the night and they were hostages for the first Shadow Rider, Nightshroud. Jaden was facing the masked teen whose brown hair and edgy fashion style rang alarm bells in Zane and Alexis' mind. "Key Keeper, you better not stall. The lava is raising." Nightshroud stated. "It's MAGMA! Not Lava." Zane corrected. "um, Professor? I don't think this the time to be correcting the bad guy." Chumley said as fire serpents slammed into the 'bubble'.

"I know we'll be fine." Zane said before the 'bubble' dropped him. Zane swung off the claw landed on the dragon's other claw. "see. Alive and well." Zane commented. "Not everyone has your athletic skill, Professor Laskaris." Jaden says. "Besides I've got to win the other half of the Shadow Charm Pendent from him, I promised the Grave Keeper I would." Nightshroud smirked. "You can try Key Keeper." Not to long ago, Jaden and few others had been on a field trip with Banner and got transported to the hidden tomb of the Grave Keeper Sect. Zane wasn't sure if they were Duel Spirits, humans, or something else but Jaden had to duel because they 'trespassed on holy grounds'. He won and got half of a Shadow Charm.

"You do that." Zane said as he scaled the statue as sat on the head of it. After a close call when Nightshroud brought out his ace monster, Red Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, but Jaden won and just in time too as the magma got a little too high.

Outside of the volcano

"Wakey wakey!" Zane said slapping 'Nightshourd' aka Atticus Rhodes on the face repeatedly. "what happened?" Atticus said groggily. "You got mind controlled by the head of the Shadow Riders after a bunch of fools sent you to the Shadow Realm as a sacrifice." Zane said cheerfully. "The puppet personality got consumed when you lost to Jaden." Jaden was checking his friends not noticing the two halves of the shadow charm were around his neck and had fused together. The completed charm looked like a pendent with red jeweled eye in the middle of it.

"Your brother is alive but needs to rest for like a week." Zane said as Alexis checked her brother over. Zane Truesdale came running, having seen the light as they were teleported out of the volcano. "It has begun?" Zane Truesdale asked. "Yep, and Jaden got her brother back as a nice bonus." Zane said as the students looked at the Professor like he was crazy, well crazier than normal. "We just survived a duel in the volcano, and you are acting like it was over warm water." Chumley stated. "Why do you think I'm the one that found the Red Eyes Darkness Statue? I can take the heat." Zane stated.

"Who is making them? They are all over the place." Syrus asked. Zane didn't answer as he picked up Atticus and placed him on his back, walking to his 'Duel Manor' to treat him because he was closest.

A few days later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's 'Duel Manor'

"He is free to go." Nurse Dragonmaid, a pink haired female nurse with horns and a pink scaled dragon tail, said looking at a chart. "Thank you." Alexis said from her seat next to her brother's cot. "A castle has appeared in the middle of the water!" Jaden said as he skidded into the room.

Five minutes later

World of Games

Duel Academy

At the shore

"We are being invited to the castle." Bastion, a Ra Yellow first year with dark gray hair, said. "Come in, I challenge Zane Laskaris for his spirit key." A heavy Transylvanian voice said, echoing from the mist shrouded castle as a red carpet appeared. Jaden, Bastion, Crowler, Chazz, Zane Truesdale, and Alexis were the next to duel should he fail so they followed him into the castle.

Inside of Camula's Castle

"Welcome. I do hope you enjoyed the walk here." A green haired woman wearing a scarlet dress that had a seductive style to it. She had a choker style Shadow Charm around her neck. She had them stand in the main hall with a set of stairs leading up to two wings of the castle. "Stand at the rail to the east and I will stand at the west." Camula, that was her name, stated as her heels clicked with each step.

They started the duel and she started with Zombie Vampire Bat. Zane active 'calling the Shadows', a spell card that let him summon as may copies of Heartless Shadow Swarm, 4-star monster 1500 attack 1000 defense with the effect that states acts as two tributes for Heartless cards as he had in his hand. "Amazing. Three monsters with 1500 attack points on the first turn. It's a pity that Professor Laskaris can't attack this turn." Bastion comments. "His turn isn't over yet." Jaden says as one of the Shadow swarms are tribute to summon Heartless Shadow Stalker, 8-star 2300 attack 2000 defense with an effect.

Zane ended his turn after placing a few face-down cards. Camula used a field spell that destroys every other card on the field. She ditched a copy of her bat monster to protect it. "How is that monster still on the field?" Syrus asked as Shadow Stalker was still around and 'convulsing'. It exploded and Heartless Dark Thorn took its place. "Dark Thorn is the 'grown up' form of the angry chained Pac-man. When it's destroyed you call summon this beast from the hand or deck. 3000 attack and 2300 defense is nothing to scoff at." Crowler explained as Camula was forced to end her turn.

"What's with this deck? It seems to revolve around swarming the field then trading them for bigger monsters." Alexis said. "Exactly. The deck is divided up in to two groups monster wise. The boss monsters and the swarm monsters." Crowler explained. "that is only one of each boss card in the deck, but they are as varied as the swarms of underlings. The swarm monsters all have the basic effect of acting as two tributes, letting him bring out bosses." Camula hand turn things around as they were talking.

The duel was back and forth as Zane had more Heartless monsters set to the grave with minimal life point loss. "Vampire Genesis! Destroy his Demon Tide." Camula ordered having her beefed-up monster destroy Zane's Heartless Demon Tide, level ten 4000 attack 4000 defense. "I active Demon Tide's effect. When it is attacked and more than ten other Heartless monsters are in grave, I can summon Heartless Demon Storm by tribute Demon Tide and make it the new traget." Zane explained as heartless were pulled into the swirling shadows that made up Demon Tide.

The new monster was a black hurricane of heartless swirling around a pulsing red core in the eye of the storm. It was level 12 with 5000 attack and defense. "for every heartless card in the grave it gains 100 attack and defense points and I count 15." The monster now had 6500 attack points. "What kind of monster is that?" Chazz asked staring that monster that radiated darkness. "One of the most dangerous Heartless boss cards. The good news is that it's got enough attack points to end this duel." Bastion said as Camula's monster was destroyed and her life points spent.

"You've beaten me. How will I revive my clansmen now?" Camula said in defeat. "I believe the deal when I met you was that I'd help you if you master that deck. Have you not drawn out it's potential?" Zane said. Camula laughed, leaning on the railing, realizing hope wasn't lost. She had played her part, joining the Shadow Riders as a spy, duel him, and be judged. "I hope you're plan works out." She guides them out of her castle, and it vanishes soon as they get back to shore.

The next day

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's 'Duel Manor'

They were seated in a warded meeting room. "As you can tell, I have some spies in the enemy group. I've been planning for few years now." Zane said. "I will not tell you who is a spy so their cover isn't blown but what I can tell you is that the only reason they are helping me is because I agreed to help them with their goals." Zane stated. "Great job Commander. You converted the enemy before they were enemies." Crowler said with a salute. "You don't need to salute. This isn't the Magitech Unit." Zane said sighing. Crowler held the rank of Major, a lower rank than Jaden's, one of the reasons they argue so much. "Don't think I haven't noticed the extra homework you throw at Jaden. Only reason it's allowed to happen is because he needs the grades." Zane said with a light glare.

A month later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's 'Duel Manor'

"This is priceless!" Zane laughed as Bastion was one armed hugged by Tania, the amazon warrior/tiger. Her bronzed skin, dark pony tailed hair, and body builder body type made her the most unlikely person to be Bastion's girlfriend. "So, you faced her in the mini coliseum she had pay students to build because she was the next Shadow Rider." He indicates the Shadow Charm Gauntlet she was wearing. "Because you beat her in duel and impressed her, she's now your girlfriend." Zane still laughed as Bastion blushed.

"You forgot we'll marry sometime after he graduates." Tania said. "He's just what I was looking for. Someone passionate but not a meat head. We amazons value intellect as well as strength." She complimented her boyfriend as her pet white tiger, Bass, padded in and plopped his head in Zane's lap. "Hello to you too, Bass." Zane said giving the tiger the attraction he wanted, getting a loud rumbling of pleasure. "You are the second person, other than me that Bass has let that close." Tania commented. "Bass warmed up to Bastion after dueling me, but you, it was instant. Same you're too old and married."

"You are in your twenties at the latest. The age difference between you and Bastion isn't too big." Zane commented as Bastion asked, confused, "How old are you, Professor Laskaris? 40?" Tania laughed. "He's ancient and isn't shy to share the fact he over 30,000 years old." Bastion was flabbergasted at this "You must have a healthy lifestyle to be that old and look so young." He changes the subject. "Chazz beat his brother yesterday. I heard it was a 'behind the Eightball' victory."

"And he's keeping all the cards I gave, even if the Duel Spirits sometimes keep him up with their partying. All I had to do is build his extension for free." Zane said, relieved that he didn't have to listen to them bemoaning the fact they were thrown away every night very loudly. "sounds fair. Syrus has been secretive lately, any day why he would be training here?" Bastion asked. "Ah, he's trying to master the cyber series and integrate it into his deck." Zane said and Tania stared. "they chose that shrimp as their master. I hope he survives but they care little for weakness." Tania states. "Doesn't his brother use the cyber series already? Or is the rumored 'shadow of the cyber dragon' as dangerous the old texts say?" Bastion asked.

"Failure to master the Cyber Dark can result in heart attack or even death. Where did you even read about it?" Zane asked. "Chancellor Sheppard told me about it when I asked for information about Zane Truesdale's Deck. I had no idea there was secret Dueling Dojos. I have been sworn to secrecy, as you'd expect." Bastion said. "The Dark Scorpion Gang has been detained." House Dragonmaid stated as she bowed to Zane. Her uniform was a little scuffed up, like she had been in a fight. "The leader had this." She drops a Shadow Charm that looked like a bulky gold eye patch with the same eye all Shadow Charms had.

"That's Shadow Rider number 4 dealt with." Zane commented. "I'm guessing you dueled him and soundly defeated him." House Dragonmaid smiled "your deduction skills are sharp as ever, Lord Zane. The grimy young man, I believe he calls himself 'The Chazz', has agreed to take their cards." She stated. "You have great maids." Tania stated, "no one dares mess with their home after the 'incident' not long after they appeared in the Duel Spirit World."

House Dragonmaid had a frosty look on her face and her smile was a thin line as she pushed up her glasses. "We protect Lord Zane's properties from any and all threat. We were created from the otherworldly counterparts Zane met. It is only natural we would serve him fatefully. If only that demon invoker was the same. He is only interested in using intruders as toys for his demons." They got the feeling she didn't particularly like the other Duel Spirit of the deck. "Thank you again for your wonderful service." Zane said quickly.

A week later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Inside the sealed Abandoned Dorm

The basement

"So, he sent two Shadow Riders at the same time." Zane said facing Titan, the 'Shadow Duelist', who wasn't looking to good. He was wearing his trench coat and hat, but his skin was pale and clammy. His mask was replaced by A Shadow Charm version of it. Clearing he was being used by the shadows, not the other way around, because veins were budging around the mask and his hands along with glowing red eyes. "After we defeat you the seal keeping us in with fall, Key Keeper." The shadows using Titan said in an echoing version of his voice.

"You aren't even there, are you, Titan?" Zane quipped. "His soul was lost, and we have taken his body for our proposes." The Shadows said, confirming that they were using a still living corpus as a meat suit. The only things in the Shadow Realm that would do that is the scum at the bottom of the barrel. A bunch of weak mindless beings that hungered for souls endlessly and looked like black slugs the size of footballs. He hoped the other Shadow Rider wasn't as revolting as this one.

The next day

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's 'Duel Manor'

"You got to duel a famous Pharaoh (Not the one from the Millennium Puzzle) and I got stuck with slugs in a meat suit." Zane said with annoyance and disgust. "Man, I wish I could have duel in the shadow magic ritual site." Jaden said. "But against someone else, your shadow rider opponent sounds nasty." Zane shivered. "it was quite unpleasant to be near them. They smelled like the worse negative emotions all mixed together in a cocktail of foulness." Zane described as he drinks some of his better emotion wine to cleanse the foulness from his senses.

"Are you sure you should be drinking this early?" Crowler asked the question on all the 'Key Keepers' minds. "I can't get drunk and it sucks when I'd love to get drunk. Doesn't matter how strong it is, I'm sober as a person who never drinks a drop of spirits in their life." Zane informed them. "I can't say that I'd want that." Zane Truesdale said before asking "You drink for the flavor?" Zane smiled. "got in one. I've become quite skilled at appraising and brewing alcoholic drinks as a side gig. This bottle here is love, wrath, and joy infused into grapes of a special kind." He shows them the bottle with digicode on the label.

"that is an interesting way to use that skill." Alexis stated sniffing the bottle and blinking at the scent. She could 'smell' the emotions, somehow. "Smells strong." She comments. "There is one last Shadow Rider and their leader left." Bastion states. "We don't need to worry about the seventh Shadow Rider." Zane states. "In one week, their leader is coming to a ceasefire meeting with me. I intend to negotiate with him for solutions that won't result in Duel Energy being drained from the world."

"he's only willing to agree to this because you proved you have the means to solve his problem." Banner said walking in, looking slight younger that they remembered and holding a book called the Shadow Charm Emerald Tablet. "You're the seventh Shadow Rider?" was the question they all asked. "for good reason. I picked up a curse of sorts before I was a teacher and have been using homunculus bodies to stave off death but turning into dust." Banner explained.

"That's why I made a deal with him. He spies on them and I would solve his problem." Zane said. "It was one nasty curse. Took me until a few days ago to break the curse and transfer his soul into a longer lasting body." Zane stated. "He may be a renowned alchemist, not that many people know their still around, but I've got access to magic that would blow your mind. Remember not to talk about any of this." They agreed to keep it on the down low and only shared it with the few the really trusted.

A few days later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Duel Monster Spirit Day was a day when Duel Spirits require so little energy to materialize that it became a day when the more 'fun loving' Duel Spirits had 'fun'. "Hello there, kind sir. Would you be willing to give me a tour of the festival?" Dark Magician Girl asked a blushing Syrus, who she knew had a crush on her. "sure. You look amazing as the Dark Magician Girl." Syrus said think it was someone in costume as most of the students and teachers were doing. "Don't tell anyone this." She leans in and whispers "I am a Duel Spirit" Syrus blanked out and started the tours as DMG giggled at his still blushing expression.

Not far from them was Zane watching from a tree. "That's one Duel Spirit accounted for. She won't be too much trouble other than making Syrus' heart beat out of his chest." Zane said to himself as he noted mostly humanoid or normal looking animal Duel Spirits mingling with the humans. He had to spend the day being on the lookout for troublemakers that would ruin it for everyone else.

Somewhere on the island

After a few hours the 'Costume Duel' started with DMG facing Jaden in armor made to look like the kind the original Supreme King wore when he was alive. Zane was busy going after some odd snake that startled some students. He followed it to the swamp on the island. It wasn't safe for anyone to go in because of the toxic fumes but there was a lot of medical plants that thrived here. "Ok snakes, what's the big idea scaring my students?" Zane said holding the snakes' two heads in a way they can't bite him. "She commanded us to bring you here." The Left head of the Venom Serpent hissed. "We must obey the Snake Deity." The Right head hissed as a large snake monster with a humanoid torso, snake head arms, snake hair, and no mouth, rose from the swamp.

Vennominaga, the Deity of Poisonous Snakes, smelled of divinity and a potent venom. All her eyes stared at him as he wisely dropped her subject. "So, what brings you to the human world on this fine Duel Spirit Day?" Zane asked as she uses her coils to bring him to eye level, she was 30 meters long and 'stood five meters higher than Zane. "you will take this." Her snake heads hiss all at once, pressing a bundle into his hands then dropping him on solid ground.

And just like that, she and her subject were gone. "Ok, that's the first time I meet her, and she gives me a heavy package." He looks inside and finds shed skin, fangs, and vials of venom in large quantities. Zane had no idea how long it took collect it all. Based on the uniformness of the bigger skins, they were mostly big skins, it would have taken years for that one snake to shed it. He knew it was the same snake because the scale pattern on over three quarters of them was the same. In fact, they looked just like Vennominaga's scale pattern.

Ok, suddenly this sounded very important to deal with carefully. He carefully carried the bundle back with him as he left the swamp. I wasn't every day that a Snake Deity gave you her scales to make something with.

A day before the ceasefire meeting

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's 'Duel Manor'

Zane had spent the last few days crafting whatever the bundle of snake stuff yielded. Syrus had been over moon for days now because of DMG saying she was interested in him. Zane was working without being aware of anything else save for the short breaks he took. It was a wonder he even noticed Chumley sending a card design to Industrial Illusion when he thought no one was looking. Using the fangs, powdered and some venom mixed in then forged, he formed a shaft of 'metal like bone' (not unlike the Dragon bone armor from Elder Scrolls). This took days while the skins were prepared by being soaked in a cocktail of venom and several magical regiments, including blood freshly spilled.

Zane didn't even remember some of the steps he took as day became a blur. He took the skins and wrapped them tightly around the shaft, leaving the tip uncovered. He took one of the gems of pure magic, used the skin to hold it in place, then plunged it into the venom cocktail. The reaction was violent to say the least. He was vaguely aware of the skin merging with the shaft and turning into a coiling snake biting the gem, which absorbed the venom cocktail and turned a rainbow of deadly toxic colors, at the top. As he blacked out, he felt someone burst into the room and take him somewhere.

Ten hours later

World of Games

Duel Academy

The Infirmary

"I came to see you and find you bed ridden." An old man in a mobile life support machine, that looked like a human sized test tube of blue liquid, said in a some want machinal voice. "Former Chairman Kagemaru, I presume." Zane said as Fonda Fontaine, the reddish-brown haired school nurse, Phys-Ed teacher and head of the Obelisk Blue Girls' Dorm, checked him over. "You can give me my youth back?" Kagemaru said as Zane noted his Shadow Charm was just a ring. "I can't give immortality, but youth is simple enough." Zane said. "Did Banner give you the package?" Kagemaru opened a compartment and a robotic arm brought out a decanter of glowing stuff. "Good. That is life force, enough to make you feel like your 40 instead of over a hundred." Zane instructed him how to use it.

Kagemaru poured it into his 'test tube' and in flash of light a man with dark hair and no wrinkle stepped out of the machine after the fluid drained out. "Amazing. No pain at all." The now youthful Kagemaru said in a deep voice. "Would you please put this on?" Fontaine said giving him some spare cloths because he only had a loin cloth type thing on. "Thank you, ma' am." Kagemaru said and got changed. "What were you think? Nurse Dragonmaid dropped you off her in a frenzy." She scolded him. She was wearing a pink shirt under an open blue blazer. Zane knew students faked injuries to see her and her curvy figure.

"I have no idea what happened that last few days. What I do remember is I was forced to make something using skin, fangs, and venom from a Duel Spirit snake goddess. The last step was far from gentle." Zane tried to explain. Fontaine quite annoyed stated. "You have healing chemical burns on your face and hands. You lost a lot of blood. And your heart almost stopped three times." She poked his wrapped head repeatedly making him wince. His hands were also wrapped and there was heart monitor running next to him.

"Somethings want to be made and force the maker to do so." Zane said. "Like the Sacred Beast Cards." Kagemaru comments in a black tracksuit. "That snake staff has been glaring at me." He adds as Zane looks at the finished product, resting next to his bed. "It looks amazing." He says as the eyes of the snake head glinted. "I'm going for a jog." Kagemaru said, leaving. "And the Shadow Rider conflict is over. I hope he enjoys his refreshed body." Zane comments. "This letter came for you." Fontaine says then read the letter for him. Basically, Mr. Huffington, Chumley's Father, was coming in a few days to congratulate him on improving so much. And to give Zane a gift of his finest alcohol as thanks for the help he provided. "Why him? Chumley has told me some many stories about his father's abrasiveness and single mindedness." Zane groaned.

"He better not injury you farther. I Worked around the clock to keep you alive." She said annoyed. "He respects me as a fellow spirits brewer." Zane stated.

The next day

World of Games

Duel Academy

Slifer Red Dorm

"You're early." Banner comments as Mr. Huffington, who looked like buffer tank top wearing adult version of Chumley, slammed a bottle of Sake on the table, laughing. His breath reeked to high heavens. Clearly, he enjoys his own product. "it took less time to get here that I planned." He looks at the still bandaged Zane and asked, "What happened to you?" Zane shrugged. "Was working on something and it reacted too well. My hands are useable finally." He wiggles his lightly bandaged hands. "Better you than someone that can take the heat." Mr. Huffington laughed slamming Zane on the back.

"Dad, I want to join Industrial Illusions and design cards. Dueling is great but making the cards 'clicks' better as Zane says." Chumley said as Jaden and Syrus looked surprised. "You don't plan to give up on duel completely, I hope. You committed a lot of time to your dueling career." Mr. Huffington said staring harshly at his son who didn't back down. "I can do both. What is the hope of designing Duel Monster Cards if I don't see them in action? Just like you are the first to taste teste the latest batch of Sake, I will test the cards myself to make sure they are the best." Chumley said passionately. Zane, Jaden and Syrus had light fire in him and burned so bright he was standing up to his father. "That's what I expect. Let Duel to see if you can keep that fire in face of pressure. You've got one day to prepare." Mr. Huffington informed him.

Later that day

Zane doing a lesion on magical items and some of ways they are made. "Who can tell me about some possible ways a magical item is made?" Zane asked his students, turning to face them leaning on his new staff, Viper's Remedy. "blood sacrifice." One of the Red students said after Zane called on them. "Good. Most, if not all, magical objects require a sacrifice of some kind to make them. The amount of hard work that is put into making it, or godly energy in some cases, factor in how powerful the result is." Zane said.

"Professor, what happened to your face?" a snobbish Obelisk Blue student asked without raising his hand or waiting for Zane to call on him, asked with his feet on the desk. "Detention for being rude." Zane said annoyed. "But to answer your question, I tried my hand at making a magical item." He indicates the staff. "as you can see, it worked, I didn't plan to get splashed by magical acid." They winced at this. "I will make full recovery in few days. Having the skin of my face and hand partially melted is a small price to pay for this staff."

"What did you even get out of it?" Chazz asked Zane flicked chalk at his head and blasted him with Viper's Remedy at the same time. Chazz expected pain but felt nothing. "You took my pain?" He asked rubbing his bruised forehead. "takes the edge off pain the subject is experiencing. That hit was so painless you didn't even feel it." Zane explained then blasted a pencil, turning it into wooden but living snake. "it also lets me make things into snakes and back." He does so. "Other than that, it's a tool to channel magic with." Zane stated.

"For your assignment, I want a ten-page essay on magical items from history and how they were made. Due in five days and I expect everyone to do different ones. To ensure this you will draw lots to see what your choice is." Zane places a box on his desk and the students grumbled as they came forward to draw their choice. "What the hell is 'Kanshou and Bakuya: Gān Jiàng and Mò Yé'?" Chazz asked looking at his slip of paper. "Ah! You got one of the more tragic weapons. You'll need this." Zane says handing Chazz a few books, one of them on the weapons and another on the 'life' of Counter Guardian Emiya. "Some of these books describe worlds outside this one, but you students know that you are just one world with life on it." Zane waned them as he passed out copies of books they would need for research.

"What's the 'Mark of Titania'?" 'Princess' Rose, an Obelisk Blue student who used a frog deck, asked. Zane had a full body shiver because he had not put that in the choices. "That will require research materials I keep under lock and key." Zane answers. "Come by my 'Duel Manor' later. By the way, why do you kids call it that?" Zane had been wondering this all school year. "It's because it's fancy looking and staffed by Duel Spirits." Jaden answered plainly with his arm in the box. "'Stand Arrow'? sound cool." He comments as Zane snatches the slip of paper from him and stares at it. "You have got to be kidding me! How did that get in there?" Zane said really annoyed before sighing. "Looks like you will be coming by like Rose is, Jaden." Zane said as he hands it back.

"Unlike Rose, you will not able to find any information save what I've got, and for good reason. The Stand Arrow is among the deadliest magical items I've encountered. There are only two roads for you if you encounter it. Death or you get a 'superpower'." Zane warned "good luck to you, Jaden." Bastion comments looking at his slip of paper. "I have to research the ten rings of Solomon, the King of Magic." Zane pulled a thick volume and handed it over. "You get to a rare treat, Bastion. Because I've met him and indirectly saved him after he did something insane." Turns out, it was possible to exist after you erase your own existence if you have enough people that remember you. King Solomon would not be disappearing from the Throne of Heroes as long as one person remembered his deeds. Not even the gods could erase him for good.

"Fascinating. I will study this intently." Bastion comments.

The next day

World of Games

Duel Academy

Zane's Duel Manor

"The Mark of Titania is worn by those that the Fae Queen trusts greatly. Once you put it on, it never comes off." Zane told 'Princess' Rose, who insisted on wearing blue dress and tiara instead of her uniform. She twirled her grayish blonde hair, not getting the magnitude of the information. "the only reason I'm telling you anything is because she obviously wants to make my time teaching more chaotic after it started to slow down. So, pay attention and only work on it here." Zane said sternly. "How am I to write ten pages if the information is scarce?" She asked.

"You need to write what you can." Zane says and turns to the three Duel Spirits she had. A trio of Des Frogs, she named them Jeffrey, Roosevelt and Percival. "Keep an eye out for anything not normal. Also keep her on task." He ordered them and they croaked in agreement. "You believe me?" She asked. "You might not have enough Duel Energy as Jaden, but I can see your 'princes' as clear as day." Zane stated as he left her to her work.

"Ok Jaden. How is it going for you?" Zane asked as he entered the next room. "This is amazing. Who knew a space rock was so 'magical'?" Jaden said, writing his fifteenth page. "How close are you to getting finished?" Zane asked. "Almost done. Just need finish the closing statement." He writes for another five minutes then sets down his pencil. Zane took it read it. It was less about the arrow and more about the effects it had unleashed. "You get full credit. This essay will not be added to the public records. The Speedwagon Organization will get a copy of it." Zane states putting the paper into a sealed bag.

"Why would they want it?" Jaden asked as Yubel stood behind the couch he was on. "You have an interesting theory on how the stands are created as they are. any new ideas are helpful in figuring the full truth of the Stand Arrow." Zane stated. "This is the fastest I've seen you finish an assignment. How did Chumley fair against his father's drunken deck?" Jaden smiled. "He lost but Mr. Huffington like the effort he put forth."

"Ah, that's expected with what kind of man Mr. Huffington is. The only way to impress him is if you fight to the last. If only he wasn't a raging alcoholic who yells a lot when he is drunk." Zane said with a sigh. Toon Summoned Skull appeared out of an electrical socket and dropped a package in Zane's hand before disappearing the same way it came snickering. "Pegasus just had to find a way to hire toons to deliver his mail." Zane groaned. The Toon Duel Spirits found a way to get anywhere whenever to deliver the mail.

"They just love to have fun." Yubel commented as Zane found a VHS tape in the package with his and Chumley's name on it. There was a spell card in there too. It was called 'Ayers Rock Sunrise'. "He won the contest." Zane comments.

A few hours later

World of Games

Duel Academy

Slifer Red Dorm

"Greetings contest winner, and Zane of course." The video of Pegasus said. "It was surprising to get a job application at Industrial Illusions at the same time as a contest entry. Normally it'd have little chance of going any farther but then I saw the emotion in the art you sent. You carry a passion that reminds me of myself. That is why I am requesting for Zane to bring you to Industrial Illusions HQ as soon as he can. See you then." The message ended as Chumley was cheered on by all Slifer Red, parts of Ra Yellow and a few Obelisk Blue. "We can't wait to see the cards you design." Crowler said. Mr. Huffington had pulled a fast one and made the duel a public one for the whole school to see. As a result, the whole school knew he wanted to focus more on card designing.

"Way to go man! You won the contest and got the job." Jaden said. "Can the first card you make be a hero card?" Syrus laughed "Jaden, I'm sure he's got ideas for cards that he wants to make already." Syrus says as Chumley one arm hugs them both. "Don't worry. I've got plenty of ideas. Even a few hero ones." Chumley says.

The next day

World of Games

Industrial Illusions HQ

"well, when I heard you had a bit of a scare, I didn't expect you to be messing with the spirit world." Pegasus comments looking at the unbandaged but still tender skin of Zane's face. "When a Duel Spirit on the level of a god tells you to do something, you do it. Then again you when against the wishes of the Gods and made their modern cards." Zane snarked. He was standing with Viper's Remedy in a pose as Chumley painted as an improvised test. "You don't mind if I add this as a support card to reptile monsters, right?" Chumley asked getting an idea to have it as spell card. "Excellent idea." Pegasus says. "this proves you are hired." Chumley had to pause before he ruined the painting.

"It's the perfect card for this odd monster that showed up." Pegasus said showing a card called 'Grap the Chosen' (A fan card from an amazing Worm/yugioh Fic called 'Screw the Rules I have Escalation' by Stewart92. Go read it and the redux of it by the same person.) "The machines that started printing it acted weirdly. I'm not one to deny a Duel Spirit that means no harm, so I just ran with it an make it official." Pegasus said and Zane felt the Serpent Deity hiss with approval outside the window, revealing her true size, longer than Slifer the Sky Dragon. She had compacted her body mass to interact with him and did the same with the skins and fangs.

"I'd say that it was a goddess of scaly kind that is behind it." Zane said. "and I'm inclined not to anger her." Pegasus turns just in time to get a glimpse of her as she vanished. "Oh my. That is not how I planned this interview." He says. Zane relaxes as Chumley finished the painting. It depicted a blacksmith with a shadowed face presenting the staff to a Grappler, a blue lizard monster not unlike that new card. "interesting." Pegasus said the inquired, "what inspired you to paint it this way?" Chumley thought for a moment then said "Zane told me about his encounter at the swamp and I looked up reptile monster cards. Grappler looked like a monster that needed some TLC to stand out more, so I doodled some scenes and this one felt the best. There was something watching me the whole time, but this idea was wholly my own."

"the whims of gods are hard to know until after it's all said and done, maybe." Zane said. "If goddess wants a subject under her to get the TLC it deserves, in her opinion, then she will do what she wants." Pegasus nodded at this. "good luck with your new job. You were one of my favorite students." Zane said as he left for Duel Academy. He had a few more years of teaching to do.

 **Author's Note: Next chapter will be a side chapter. See you next time!**


	23. Invitation to Danger

**Welcome to the first chapter of Electra's Pokémon journey. There will be spoilers for: Pokémon, Hollow Knight, Infinity Train Book Two, Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff.**

 **Side Chapter 1: Invitation to Danger**

Pokemon universe

Kanto Region

Pallet Town

Electra walked up the steps that lead to Professor Oak's lab. Sunshine crooned as she stopped. "Don't worry. I'm just realizing that we're on our own." Electra gripped her staff and calmed her nerves before continuing up the steps. She entered the lab and was greeted by the sight of Professor Oak debating about something with his grandson, Gray Oak, who was in his early thirties and researcher like his grandfather.

"How can we not know the total number of pokemon that exist? It's like new regions full of them are being found left and right." Professor Oak said as more of Galar were 'made public', much to his annoyance. "Gramps, Galar was locked up tighter than a safe in a volcano on an island in the middle of a storm until recently, Locals only. It only makes sense they'd keep secrets from everyone else. They kept Dynamaxing a secret of years. All we can do is work with what we've got. It's not like someone will walk in willing to do a multi-region research journey."

Electra coughed lightly and they turned. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were there. What brings you to my lab?" Professor Oak asked. "My Name is Electra Laskaris and I'm here to pick up a pokedex and trainer license." Electra said and they shared a look. "you would happen to be related to Zane Laskaris, would you?" Gary Oak asked. "He's my Papa." She answers with pride. "Would you be willing to help with a project of a lengthy duration?" Gary Oak asked. "Does it have to do with the argument I walked in on?" She asked and Sunshine looked interested at the prospect of traveling this world. She had explored the Mystery Dungeon world but this one was new to her.

"We need someone to travel the known and soon to be known regions. Should expect this task, you would research everything and check it with what is currently believed to be true. It would be very helpful for all of the professors that have worked tirelessly for years." Professor Oak said rubbing his eyes. "I'll do it. This is just the adventure I dreamed of. Papa told me that I'd find my grand adventure one day. Right Sunshine?" Electra said. Sunshine trilled with sparkling compound eyes.

"How long have you had 'Sunshine'?" Gary asked checking her over. "She's quite healthy and more vibrant than most Volcarona, other than the fact she's a 'shiny' pokemon." Professor Oak joined his grandson and scanned her. "She's larger than normal and shows signs of being well trained." Volcarona tangled them up in string shot when she got fed up with their examining. "Amazing control of the silk." Professor Oak commented as he was tangled with his grandson in giant web. "Sunny, it's rude to web people like that. Researcher will always be interested in you." Electra scolded her. "That's quite alright. I find it to refreshing experience how pokemon attacks work." Professor Oak says with a smile. "This is the strongest and finest string shot I've seen. Don't you agree, Gary?"

"I apologize if we got a little excitable. Volcarona are hard to find and none are like your Sunshine is. She is a gem among her kind." Gary said. He let his Scizor out and the red metal mantis started slicing the silk with great difficulty, resorting to using Metal Claw to cut them down. "Big Sis found her egg abandoned before I was born. She kept her close even after she hatched. After I was born Sunshine was given to me." Electra explained. "It's been ten years, but it was only a few years ago that she evolved after protecting from something dangerous."

"Astounding. Larvesta is known for being the slowed bug pokemon to evolve but I have never heard of it taking years for it to happen, to be fair, it is a rarer pokemon breed so there is information we lack." Professor Oak said rubbing his chin. "While he gets your Pokedex programed, maybe you can tell me more about how you raise Sunshine." Gary said as Professor Oak worked at the computer to program her pokedex, which would be a Researcher Pokedex instead of the standard Trainer one. "I've got notes." Electra said pulling a stake of paper on everything her family noticed about Sunshine over the years.

"This will save a lot of time but won't tell us much about how they are in the wild." Gary said taking the copied notes and almost dropped them as they were heavy. "You definitely are his daughter. Stronger than you look even at your age." Gary says setting the stack on the nearest table. "This will take a while so you can go out to the ranch if you want. Be mindful of the trainer's pokemon that stay here." Gary says as he starts to look through the notes.

An hour later

Out on the ranch

"you must work hard to keep the peace around here." Electra said to Ash's Bulbasaur as he removed Ash's Heracross, a giant blue stag beetle pokemon who tried to drink the sap from his bulb again. "It is a never ending but rewarding chore." Bulbasaur said in pokespeech. He had found this odd human walking around and mingling with the pokemon, she even broke up a fight between electric type without getting shocked. The fact she understood them was an odd bonus in his opinion. So, she joined him on his rounds and helped lighten the load he carried.

"Papa has to spar with Iron King to remind him he can't rampage just because someone ruined his garden." Electra said with a giggle. As Much as Aggron was known as rampaging monsters, they had a green thumb and would plant greenery to make their turf look more impressive, a matter of pride she came to realize. "Your father sounds insane. Sparing with mountain smashing pokemon more than once." Bulbasaur stated as he watched her parting leaves with that odd staff of hers. It smelled of ozone, dragon, and birds with an oddness about it. He bet it was magical. Magic wasn't rare in the Pokemon world. Pokemon were called 'Magical beasts' back in the day for nothing. It's just Humans rarely could use it. Aura and ESP were something else.

The Legendries shaped the world with their brand of magic the same way normal pokemon used it to shape their attacks, but the scale was vastly different. He had meet some Legendary Pokemon so he knew what he was talking about. Humans were so close to realizing this fact, but they lacked the understanding the pokemon knew at birth. Call it Genetic Instinct, or a blessing from the Legendries, it was the simple fact Pokemon knew things that humans were clueless about. It was refreshing to meet a human that might know something like a pokemon does.

"Who are you?" a blue angler fish pokemon with two yellow lures, asked from the saltwater pond they passed. "you fell like an electric type, but you are clearly human." This was a young wild Chimchou that Professor Oak was helping recover after he was attack by a pod of Sharpedo. "My name is Electra. I'm a pokemon trainer that will be starting my journey today." She said siting by the water and dipping her feet in after taking of her shoes and socks. Chimchou moved a lure near her foot and an arch of electric crossed the distance and then back again, just like how it is when two or more Electric types have body parts near each other. It was how they talked without using pokespeech and was 'private' unless you could read the current.

"You are clearly an Electric type Human. I didn't know that humans came in those types." Chimchou stated sure of himself. "I think you are also part fire type. Electric/Fire Type an interesting combination." Electra giggles that his comment. To pokemon, humans were Normal/Fighting, Normal/Psychic or just plain Normal type. It all depended on their talents or lack of talents. "Are you as squishy as other humans are? I hear they can't take hits like we can unless they train hard. Even then it's not enough so they bundle themselves in layers of protection." Chimchou began to ramble on with questions that Electra found quite amusing.

"Do you have a trainer?" Electra asked at some point after answering his endless questions. "Nope. I'm as wild as they come. I was just swimming in the waters of Hoenn when I ran into a pod of Sharpedo and got shredded by their Rough Skin. It was not fun, but I got fished out by one of the Human Chansey and was given to this old human to recover." Chimchou said off handedly. It was much better than being lunch. "you look fine to me." Electra comments, looking him over and finding no injuries. "He's healed but Professor Oak hasn't found the time to return him to the wild yet." Bulbasaur explained. "The humans of Galar and their stringiness has been driving him up the wall for the past year." The grass type that with a snort. Pokemon shared some information more freely so he was aware of what happened in other regions via chatty bird pokemon.

"I'm going to be helping him with a global project." Electra stated as Chimchou perked up. "Can I join you? It'd be great. We see the sights, feel the storms, swim the lakes and rivers, maybe even meet Legendries." He sighed at the end. "The sea is nice but there is so much on land I want to see." Electra got out of the water, dried off with a small spell, put her socks and shoes back on, then picked up Chimchou from the water. "Professor Oak won't mind if take you with me." She said as they walk back to the lab. Bulbasaur parted from them because a dispute he had to deal with.

Back at the lab

"Ah, there you are. Your Researcher's Pokedex is ready and the license just requires a photo to be completed." Professor Oak stated. "Is it ok if I catch this Chimchou? He wants to come with me." Electra asked as Chimchou looked up with a puppy dog look. "If that's what he wants. Here's a dive ball to catch him with." The professor gives her a watery colored pokeball, it worked best on pokemon that lived underwater. Chimchou caught himself and didn't fight it. "Sunshine was nice enough to show of some of her moves." Gary said as Sunshine looked Sakura over and asked her who was in the Dive Ball. "Our new friend, a Chimchou." She answered. She couldn't wait to brainstorm a nickname with him, if he wanted one.

"and done. You are ready for your mission of great importance." Professor Oak said handing her Pokedex over. You will be paid weekly with a modest research fund. Try to make it last and have fun with this. This is your 'grand adventure' after all." He said as she put the pokedex in her pocket and got ready to leave. "I won't let you down, Professor. That's a promise." She says as she leaves. "There goes one of the oddest humans I've ever met. She was talking to pokemon and understanding them. It must run in the family." Professor Oak commented remembering that Zane could do it too. "Any guesses what her element is?" Gary asked. "Fire and Electric. Fire for her family and Electic because there is no way that chimchou didn't try to 'shock greet' her like he does everyone he meets for the first time. Not a hair out of place and a faint ozone small about her also clued me in." Professor Oak stated.

Ten minutes later

Pokemon Universe

Kanto

Route One

Electra set up camp in hidden spot and watched the pokemon going about their life. This route fit was the research said, save for a Pidgeot that came by briefly before leaving is a burst of speed. That must be Ash's Pidgeot that checked in to make sure the local Pidgey and Pidgeotto flock was doing OK. She here a branch creak behind her and a smooth voice in pokespeech say, "Hello odd human." It was Pidgeot looking amused at her expression. "I hope you aren't a poucher. We would have issues if that the case." He comments showing off his talons. "I'm researching the world of Professor Oak." Electra said. "Oh, then you are Electra. Bulbasaur said you took the 'impossible job' Oak has had for the past year. Best of luck." He says, flying away content the flock was safe.

A few week later

Kanto

Inside of Mt. Moon

"Interesting." Electra says using a soft lighted mining helmet to light way without disturbing the cave pokemon. She was looking at old cave drawings a Cleffa, a tiny pink baby pokemon that was vaguely star shaped, showed her. It described how Mew, on whim, turned star dust into the first Cleffa and they fell from the heavens along with the Moonstone, which broke up and most it lands at Mt. Moon. "You really are from space originally." Mt. Moon was such a mystery she had to stay here a week to check all the data and found some interesting discoveries.

Appeantly deep in Mt. Moon, was a 'cult' of Cleffa line pokemon that worshiped a pile of moonstones every full moon praying to be chosen to evolve to their next stage, Cleffa to Clefairy then to Clefable. It was added to the secret files as par Professor Oak's instruction regarding anything best left hidden from the public. The only reason she ever witnessed it was because she was an 'otherworldly human' and their leader like Sunshine. They respected the 'living sun' race to a degree. Safe to say they were a nice if odd and dangerous bunch of pokemon. The reason she called them dangerous is because of Metronome, a move Mew created for the fun of not nothing was you'd get every time you use it, any and all moves were possible.

"Thank you for letting me document this. I will make sure to visit the other Cleffa settlements on my travels." Electra said as she put away the gifted handful of moonstone fragments. She took a day to navigate the maze of a cave.

A few weeks later

Pokemon Universe

Kanto Region

Lavender Town

Between doing contests and fact checking the research, was making good time in this region. When she visited Bill's Lighthouse, he gave her Clu, a Porygon-Z that was useful for her task if a little uncontrollable at times. Bill had figured out that the Dubious Disk was alien in nature after it made lights appear like how Elgyem, and its evolved form, Beheeyem, communicated.

"Scanning. Ectoplasm detected." Clu said English, that sounded like an old radio, as his floating head spun like crazy. "What are the chances the research is right about ghost pokemon and the afterlife?" Electra asked. "Calculating. Not all ghost pokemon are from the afterlife. Some are the result of darker energies cumulating into one being. Example, Shuppet line." Clu stated as they headed for the graveyard known as Pokemon Tower. She returned Clu before he aggravated any ghost pokemon.

She waked past countless graves sensing spirits and ghost type pokemon watching her, unseen. She didn't have any pokemon out, as much as Sunshine disliked it, to show she meant no harm. The readings the Researcher Pokedex were picking up were analyzed and stored in the right files. All she had to do is find a ghost pokemon that was willing to tell her some stuff. "What brings a young girl like you to a glummy place like this?" a short old lady, with a few teeth in her mouth, said. "Want to buy ghost repelling charms?" She fanned out a bunch of fakes with a Spell Tag and Cleanse Tag mixed in there.

"How much for the Spell Tag and Cleanse Tag?" Electra asked. "You've got a good idea. 10,000 for both." The old lady says and laughs as Electra gladly pays the higher than normal price. "Can you tell me anything about why the ghost pokemon are connected to 'curses' and the afterlife?" Electra asked. "Oh ho. You came to the right place. I know quite a bit about that. I'm the oldest expert of the Ghost of Maiden's Peak that's still around. Negativity and other things, like curses, can create ghost pokemon. That much is fact. What the number crunching nerds don't know is that human and pokemon souls can and will come back as ghost pokemon or just plain undead beings, like spirits, for a number of reasons."

She made Electra pay through the nose to get everything she knew but it was worth it. Most of the information ended up in the secret files, for now. "Thank you, Gastly, for your wisdom. I almost didn't realize you won't an old lady." The 'old lady' turned into the fanged black and purple ball of gas. "What gave it away?" He asked in his normal voice. "you smell of poison. It's faint but I know that smell well." Electra said. "you have good senses, young lady. Enjoy your journey. It just got chaotic." Gastly said as the spirits around them told other spirits and so on. She had attracted the attention a lot of beings with her questions.

"It wouldn't be an adventure without chaos." Electra stated leaving the tower. Gastly turned to a shadow that towered over him. "She has the right to know those secrets. It's time of the humans to start to understand just what world they live in. Besides, Lady Mew requested I tell her for a fee." Gastly says putting the money he made away as the shadow glared with a single red eye. "It's on your head when this sparks another war and I will be waiting to drag you to the afterlife to punish you." The shadow said before vanishing.

A month later

Pokemon Universe

Kanto

Safari Zone

"Papa has a weapon forged by a Nailsmith of great skill. This bug spent an unknown number of years at the edge of Hallownest trying time and time to make a Pure Nail. When he did, he died and my clanmate was there to get it. Then he fled Hallownest and hide the Pure Nail (Spear) for the right person to find." Electra said to the gathered wild Scyther, green bug pokemon with bladed arms who evolved into Scizor. She had been asked by the pokemon to tell them stories in return they would share information she wanted. "Your story pleases me. I will share what you requested." The leader of the swarm stated pleased to hear of such a weapon.

After ten minutes, she moved on to the Kangaskhan herd. She was greeted by a bone crushing hug and dropped in the leader's pouch before she could say a word. Apparently, she was a subject of gossip and there young to be healed like she did for a Rhyhorn earlier that day. The dinosaur like Kangaroo carried her to the center of the herd were a Kangaskhan was trying to get her baby to eat the herbs that would help with the fever she was suffering. Electra was deposited on the ground the whole herd looked at her intently.

She looked the baby over and frowned at the extreme fever she had. "Was she hit by a poison attack? This is more than a fever and she need a pecha berry stat." Electra said working fast. Her healing spell what working hard at fighting the heavy poisoning, but it wasn't enough. "Oh my!" A pink egg shaped pokemon, Chansey declared as she was dropped as Electra had been. "The poor dear was hit by Toxic." Chansey ground a peach like berry into a pulp on a leaf and forced the baby to eat it. The herd relaxed as the crisis was over.

"You must be the odd human everyone is talking about." Chansey said. She checked Electra over and stated "You need to get in the shade. Being out in the sun for too long with dry out even a fire type. The herd watched amused as Sakura was pushed to a shady patch by the healing pokemon. "Eat this and rest for a few hours." Chansey ordered handing Electra a giant Soft-Boiled Egg and then going to check all the herd in same no-nonsense manner. Electra just sat and eat the egg, noting the research was spot on about the nurse pokemon and their desire to help you whether you like it or not. That and the egg was super tasty as it was healthy.

Four hours later

She had found the home of the rumored Dragonair of the Safari Zone. A hidden lake in craggy area of the Safari Zone was the perfect hiding place for a dragon type pokemon. She stared into the water and laid an offering of berries at the water's edge. "I wish to talk please." She said and waited. The water rippled as a blue serpent, with white feathered wing ears and an orb on it neck, surfaced without a sound. The Dragonair ate the berries silently, staring at her the whole time. Electra made no move and waited for her to finish.

"Ask your questions." Dragonair said in pokespeech, her voice serene as the breeze. "I wish to learn how you came to be here." Electra said. "I know not how my egg found it's to this place. All I know is that this has been my home sense forever." Dragonair answered. "Will you keep this place secret?" Electra bowed and stated. "It will only be known to the professors who wish to protect sites like this. Is that alright with you?" Dragonair seemed to stare into her soul then vanished into the water. "thank you." Electra said as she headed for town. The visit was productive and surprising. A little scary at some points but she handled it.

Loon, her Chimchou, had been so annoyed he wasn't allowed in the Safari Zone. The Warden was annoyed when he 'shock greeted' him after hearing that. Loon's habit of 'shock greeting' was an issue she was working on. He was close to evolving and she hoped he would be slightly more mature when it happened.

She got a call on her gummiphone that she didn't recognize. "Hello?" a metallic being said as she appeared on screen. "Wait is this Zane Laskrais' number?" She had a shaved head and pierced ear, wearing punk style tank top. "This is his youngest daughter's number. Does he know you?" Electra asked. "Drat. I knew I got the number wrong. He knew me as Gambit, an alias I had to discard when the Fleeks cought up to me. My new name is Lake." Lake said. "Oh, you're the reflection that made herself her own person. Are you calling from the Infinity Train? Papa told me all about the weird cars it had." Electra asked. Lake smiled. "Nope, I'm on the earth Tulip is from." Electra smiled back. "That's great news. Papa was hoping you'd get off the train at some point."

A few days later

Midnight with a full moon

Somewhere in Kanto

Electra stared as the largest Venusaur, Bulbasaur's final evolution, forced her to come with him to the 'moving forest', an event where wild Bulbasaur and its evolved form, Ivysaur, gathered to evolve if they wished. The 'moving forest' was called that because the grand master of the event manipulated plant life wherever he went to for the 'forest' where the event happened. This time it was nowhere near any town or city.

"Stay, human." The massive Venusaur commanded in a voice that rumbled like a mountain. "I know of your mission. You will witness this sacred ceremony and record it for the annoy researchers." Electra sat as he trapped her in a throne of vines. The pokemon gathered as she had Clu link up with her dex and get a good view of the event from above. The ceremony took ten minutes at most, but it was an otherworldly ten minutes. As soon as it started it was done. Electra sat on her throne, alone with only her pokemon around her. The throne petrified after letting her go. Throne would become known as the 'Moonlit Throne' and seemed to be indestructible.

"If this is Kanto, what will the other Regions be like?" Electra asked breathlessly. "No idea but this throne is nice." Loon said from her lap. A storm rolled in and her other two pokemon returned themselves to avoid being the closest object to the lightning coming. "A storm is coming and it's a big one!" Loon said with glee. The thunderhead boomed and yellow bird burst from it. Zapdos, the legendary thunder bird pokemon, stared down at them.

"It's Zapdos! This makes up for all the annoying moments!" Loon said with sparkling eyes. Zapdos had to roll his eyes at the sight of the pokemon that would chase after any storm system out to sea just because he had spotted Zapdos flying in one once. He had a job to do and dealing with an obsessed fan of his was a small price to pay. "Electra Nyx Laskaris, you have been chosen for a great task by the Legendary Council." Zapdos said via the private electrical talking method.

Electra and the throne she sat on was glowing with electrical energy, but she answered back. "What must I do?" Zapdos was relived he didn't fry her. He didn't fully believe a human could talk as Electric types do, but she was Zane's child, so she was not normal. "There was a 'slight' incident and I may have caused a bunch of oddities to start to appear." Electra gave him her best impress of Aqua's 'I am disappointed in you' look. "Ok! I started a brawl at a meeting to spice things up. It got out of control and Lady Mew made spots in the world go weird for a challenge she set up to stop the brawl." Zapdos admitted. "You need to find the 'gates' and beat each challenge. Good Luck." Zapdos vanished into the storm cloud that moved on to the east.

"Looks like Lady Mew has made Mew Games for us to beat." Electra told Loon. "Mew Games! As in the crazy reality warping events Lady Mew forces humans and pokemon to play for her amusement? I take it back. This is not what I sighted up for." Loon said afraid. "what's the matter?" Electra asked him. This was so unlike him. "Mew Games aren't always fun for the player. Grampa Rock told me about the Mew games he was forced to play when Lady Mew was 'younger'." Loon said with a shiver.

"who's Grampa Rock?" Electra asked. "This really old fish pokemon that says he was alive when Omastar was common." Loon said not remembering what pokemon Grampa Rock was. He described a brown fish with multiple fins, a red dot on its sides and a hard face that could smash rocks. Electra searched the pokedex and showed him the entry on Relicanth. "That's Grampa Rock! He lives in this deep cave somewhere in the Hoenn seas. When we get there, I can show you." Loon said brightening up. "I miss him and his grouchiness. He told me he once punched a hole in this sub with just one Head Smash! These humans in blue and wearing bandanas fled for the surface swearing he would rue the day he attacked Team Aqua, whatever that means." Loon said and Electra laughed. Team Aqua was an 'evil' team that tried to raise the sea level.

"They are humans who tried to protect sea life in a very misguided way. Grampa Rock sounds like someone I would love to meet. Are there any underwater caves near his home?" Electra asked. "Yeah, an odd one with these letters with eyes on the wall." Loon said. "Sounds like ruins to me. More the reason to visit him later." Electra said amused. "Lady Mew has melded out, according to Papa so the Mew Games won't be as bad as they were millennia ago. Lady Mew likes Papa, so she won't try to hurt me too bad." Loon stared with wide eyes. "Did you ever meet Lady Mew?" he asked. "A few times growing up. The Tree of Beginning is beautiful inside and out." Electra said remembering the playdates she had with Mew.

The sky had cleared and there were stars blanketing the sky. So, they set up camp, not noticing space around them wrap a little.

In the dream

Electra, Clu, Loon, Sunshine and Amber (she mostly sat in Electra's backpack browsing the Pokedex and watching the videos that were recorded. She also guarded Electra's stuff from nosy pickpockets.) were in odd white place. "Welcome to the Mew Games." Mew said as a game show sign appeared saying Mew Games in neon lights. "Lady Mew, why this?" Amber asked. "Because Zapdos started an agreement about Zappy (Her nickname for Electra). Everyone started fighting so I swooped in and set this fun game to spice up your journey!" Mew said making confetti fall and an invisible crowd cheer.

"This is Lady Mew? She's not how Grampa Rock described her. She's not giggling as we flounder helplessly at her mercy." Loon whispers, confused. "Grampa Rock is still alive? I forgot about him. I accidently, I think, made him sort of immortal so long ago." Mew squealed with glee spinning Loon around in a hug. "He still remembers how you terrorized him." Loon commented, dizzy. "Oh phooey. Just because I wasn't the nicest mon when the fossil pokemon weren't fossils, doesn't mean I'm like that now." Mew pouted.

"Zappy! Your pokemon said something mean to me." Mew whined "Take away his dessert for the week." Mew Commanded. Electra laughed and bowed. "Of course, Lady Mew. His punishment will be carried out." Loon sighed in defeat. "Now, let's explain how it works." Mew said, setting Loon down. "Across the globe you will find spots of 'weirdness'. Enter them and beat the Mew Game within. You get a prize for each win. You can try as many times as you want." Mew said in a voice you'd hear from a game show host.

"Sound logic." Clu stated. Electra realized what logic he ran on. Mew Logic aka weird logic that only aliens and the childish creator would understand. "To help you find them, Elgyem here was made to pick up the wavelength they emit." She throws a pokeball releasing a short light blue pokemon with an elongated head, black marks on his head, green eyes but no mouth, and arms that ended in stumps with three lights (Red, Yellow, and Green) on each one. He waved and flashed the lights in a sequence that only Clu and Mew seemed to understand.

"Oh right! You don't know the code. One moment." Mew said as she gave Elgyem the ability to talk mentally. "Greeting Trainer. Lady Mew is gifting me to you." Elgyem. "Can I call you ALF?" Electra asked. "that is oddly fitting despite the fact I do not eat cats." the newly nicknamed ALF stated. "See? You are already bonding. Good luck!" Mew said letting them really got to sleep and dream. She had an old playmate to find.

Elsewhere

Pokemon Universe

Hoenn Region

Deep underwater ruins

Grampa Rock was dozing in one of the pools in the ruins he called home when the thing of his nightmares appeared. "Hello Grampa Rock." Mew said cheerfully as woke with a start. "Please tell me I'm dreaming." He said in dry with age voice. "Nope. It's really me." Mew said presenting a gift of berries. "Sorry about the havoc I cause you several million years ago." Grampa Rock's unseen eyes looked at her then sighed. "I've had a long time to think on that and it not worth holding a grudge at this point. I forgive you, brat." He grumbled. Mew hugged him, dropping the berries into the water.

"What took you so long to find me?" Grampa Rock asked. He had been hiding from her for so long he wasn't sure if she had remembered he existed, until now. "Loon told me." Mew said. "He's this Chimchou that chases storms." Oh, that brat told her his hideout. "Has that brat been lately. He stopped visiting almost a year ago." Grampa Rock asked. "Zappy caught him and they are on an amazing journey!" Mew said making sparkles rain down as he calmly ate the floating berries. "sounds about right. A trainer that interests you catches him, and they have journey of a lifetime." Grampa Rock said blandly.

"She isn't just any trainer! She can use magic!" Mew said as Grampa Rock almost chocked on a berry. "Impossible! The last human to really use magic was Zane, who you throw back in time for a fun time with dinos." Grampa Rock said really annoyed. "She's his daughter. Her name is Electra but Zappy is my nickname for her." Mew said. "That's good to hear. Met Zane a few times and he loved to talk about his family. He also promised not to tell you about me, but you find me anyways." Grampa Rock grumbled under his breathe.

"Now I know that you are alive, I'll stop by from time to time." Mew said as she teleported away. "Lovely." Grampa Rock said to himself. He had grown attached to these ruins and decided he'd just deal with it. It was hard to find a home that few can find. Strange letter like pokemon, Unown, floated in and out of wormholes. They did this all the time and he didn't mind because they left him berries for dealing with them day in day out.

They also warped the area into a maze because of some secrets they protected. He even met the time traveling pixie legendary, he didn't bother remembering her name. He could stay here if he didn't go too deep into the ruins. Not that he could go too deep, the waterways only reached so far in. He had only had one constant visitor in the last five years, that brat Loon as he was called now. Got lost and bypassed the unfindable aspect of the ruins. You can only find if you are so lost you have no plans to find it. Once you find it, it was easy to find again.

He could see the stone door, where the maze started, from here. It had the letters pokemon depicted all over it in groups. Some message he cared little about, no doubt.

A week later

Pokemon Universe

Kanto Region

Near the Seafoam Islands

The newly wrecked 'Screaming Moltres'

"You think they'd learn after the St. Anne sunk." Electra said as she contacted Professor Oak that she was alive and sort of at the bottom of the ocean, for now." Professor Oak was sighing as he contacted the police to tell them to not file her as 'lost at sea'. "Is anyone else on the boat?" Oak asked. "No, I'm alone and the boat is still sinking." Electra says as the boat shifts, making her slide about the room she was in. "I should have known that the boat wasn't ready to sail in rougher waters. At least you got everyone else off the cruise liner and can get to safety yourself." Oak said.

"Soon as the boat stops moving, I will make my way out. Loon recently evolved so he can tow to the nearest landmass, which is the Seafoam Islands." Electra stated. "Good luck and call me when you reach land." Oak said ending the call. Electra had worked fast and gotten everyone off the boat with anything they couldn't replace. Soon as the ship hit the sandy bottom, she headed to the room with the ship's 'black box' in it, which was not flooded yet. She pulled the device out and dropped it in her, waterproof, backpack, sealing it after getting her rebreather out.

The Captain had made sure to grab the rest of the important stuff. Loon's evolved form, Lanturn, burst from his ball and waited for her in the raising water. He looked like a much bigger anglerfish with his lures on a single antenna that split halfway up. He had normal looking eyes now and yellow around his eyes. "Ready to leave? Because water is filling fast." He urged her on. She put the rebreather in her mouth and griped his body as he navigates the flooded ship.

Outside the Ship

Electra pointed to a 'hole' in the water ahead of them. It had to be one of the 'gates' Mew had created. Loon nods then swims into it.

Five minutes later

They were ejected from the 'gate' after completing the game of pitch-black underwater hide and seek, with them being it. Loon's lures helped a lot. Their prize was a Mystic Water and six water stones. She waited for the 'hole' to disappear before gesturing for Loon to surface.

Ten minutes later

Kanto

Seafoam Islands

Electra sat on the rocky and freezing ground. "That is the last time I let Oak talk me into going on a questionable ship." She said to no one. "Electra, is that you?" Misty the water type gym leader said coming from the cave system of islands. She was in her early thirties at the latest and still wear her orange hair like she did when traveling with Ash. "Hey Misty. Got a free ticket for a boat and it sprung a leak." Electra explained not getting up. "Let me guess it sunk with you still on it?" Misty guessed. "I've been training out here for a week, so I didn't know you were on that shady ship or that it even set sail."

"Shoddy work and not enough plating to survive rough waters. It's not far from here at the bottom of the sea. Got the Black box on the way out." Electra said as Misty looked her and Loon over. "You look fair and pokemon is as shock happy as always." Misty said with static hair. She was fighting to fix. "Loon is Loon even after evolving. He's gotten better and holding back when he 'shock greets' people. I think it's an electric type thing." Electra stated. "Sounds about right. It's how they greet each other." Misty said remembering for Ash's Pikachu greeted other electric types.

"I heard from interesting things recently. A throne of petrified vines on a hill appeared. An odd storm came through there as well. And an anomaly appeared in the burnt mansion on Cinnabar island. The Island people have just finished rebuilding after the volcano blow it's top and Blaine found it when he discovered no lava came near it. Apparently, they popped up in every Region, but no one can interact with them." Misty said, fishing for information. "Lady Mew made them and only I can enter them." Electra admitted. "You met Mew? What are the anomalies for?" Misty asked. "Challenges of different kinds to stop the Legendries from fighting over me. Some have high expectations and a brawl started." Electra said softly so only Misty heard her. 'That's intense." Misty says the looks at Electra who had fallen asleep without Misty noticing. She watches out for trouble while the young girl slept.

A few days later

Kanto

Cinnabar Island

Blaine's Lab

"No wonder the sink sunk like a rock." The bald scientist and Gym Leader said reading the data from the black box. "They ignored the warning about using this brand of bolts, which were recalled for good reason. As soon as they neared the first whirlpool of the Seafoam Islands, the bolts popped out and water came pouring in. I have half a mind to see if the fool didn't have cobwebs in his skull instead of a brain." Blaine ranted as Officer Jenny sent a copy to be used in the court case coming up.

"Your quick thinking saved lives and will put away a criminal behind bars for a long time." The Blue haired lady, who's sisters looked all alive, said, thanking Electra. "You gave us a scare when you called Professor Oak from underwater." Blaine said adjusting his glasses. "Have you been of sinking ships before? Because you were as calm as a Magmar in a lava pool." Blaine asked her. "I was more worried about the wild pokemon than the sinking ship. Loon is the only water type I've got and Clu can't fight that well underwater even if he does need to breathe." Electra said. "You are right. The Porygon Line never was meant for intense combat. It was created to explore spaces that were difficult for normal beings to survive in. Have it travel to a space with no oxygen, no problem!" Blaine said as he knew about the project that had resulted in that manmade pokemon line.

"Sunny! I'm fine." Electra said as Sunshine wrapped in a hug. She had been like this since yesterday. "I get that you are worried, but Loon got me to land safe and sound." She tried to get her pokemon to calm down so she could answer their questions. "You have an amazing fire type pokemon that clearly deeply cares for you. Sunshine settled down, holding on to her backpack and keeping herself aloft. She was not going to let Electra out of her sight until she was sure she was safe.

"She's a handful at times but I've known her all my life." Electra said. "Are there any more questions or can I head out?" Jenny was the one that answered "You're free to go. Stay safe." Electra smiled and said "Thank you. May your heart be your guiding key." She left as Blaine puzzled over that phrase. He heard Zane say it, but he wasn't sure why it set off alarm bells whenever he heard it. Maybe something from one of the ruins he visited in another Region?

Cinnabar Island

Pokemon Mansion

Electra picked her way through the burnt mansion. There were research logs that contained 'disturbing' information to say the least. Cloning experiments being done on New Island, a small island where the eye of a world ending storm was centered years ago. There was more ditto here than anywhere else in the pokemon world. Given the fact there was cloning machines, broken and dusty, in the building, she had a good idea were Ditto came from.

"I wasn't aware there was any unburnt logs left in this place." Blaine said as he walked up to her. "Is Mr. Fuji the Dr. Fuji mentioned in here?" Electra asked remembering the sweet elderly man in Lavender Town. "Yes. I assisted Dr. Fuji with his cloning technology. We were backed by Team Rocket." Blaine explained. "We were tasked to make a 'better Mew', you know him better as Mewtwo. Dr. Fuji had a side project of his own that ultimately failed, reviving his daughter Amber." Blaine whipped away dust from a machine's broken glass tube to show a ditto sleeping in what must have been its birthplace.

"After so many failures, I continued to try to make Mew here. Dr. Fuji continued to work on New Island." Blaine said sadly. "But all you made were failed clones that only mastered Lady Mew's ability to transform into anything." Electra filled in the blanks. "Do the Professors know about this?" Blaine sighed. "They know and the G-men are keeping a close eye on us since we told them the truth. They do surprise inspections 'just in case'." Blaine said blandly. "Like I didn't know what they were looking for. That's what I get for using Team Rocket's resources. It helped to perfect the fossil resurrection tech. Imagine a group of scientists across the world meeting in secret to give life to the lifeless."

"you needed funds to make that dream possible. Other corporations helped but it wasn't enough, so you baited the 'evil' teams to come and offer funding. A global secret plan to advance science. This makes too much sense. Devon Corp having technology to read the minds and dreams of pokemon." Electra listed that and other technologies that happened to be developed in multiple regions. "That's correct. We sparked the advancement of science at the price of almost destroying the world when the cloned legendry Pokemon didn't like the answers he got." Blaine said calmly.

"What will you do now that you know the truth?" Blaine asked her. "My job. I will find out the truth and let the Professors figure out what secrets are to be revealed to the public. I've found a lot of secrets on my journey so far that need to be handled delicately. Being a Laskaris means you aren't ignorant for long." She said in a tone that show wisdom beyond her years. "A clan that holds more secrets than anyone will ever know." Blaine said, leaving her to process what she learned.

The sleeping Ditto woke up and used it purple fluid body to not be cut by the glass. "Hello! We don't get many visitors here." The ditto said in a male voice. "Do you know about why you were made?" Electra asked him. "Hmm, the human who made the first hundred, or so, of us, said we were failures, but Lady Mew disagrees. She helped us master the one skill we had to the fullest." Electra nodded then asked. "how do Ditto breed? It's a question everyone has had for years."

The Ditto laughed, switching to a female voice seamlessly. "Two of mix together some of our bodies and it turns into an egg. It's odd that the genetics of the offspring is completely different from the parents, but that how we ditto are." The ditto says leaving her to her thoughts. That Ditto must have been one of the original because the rest of the Ditto she met were younger sounding than this one.

Sometime later she found a pristine wooden door that felt 'wrong' just as the 'hole' underwater had been. This had to be another Mew Game location. Steeling herself, She, with Sunshine on her back, reached for the door. It felt solid as you'd expect a door handle to be. She turned the knob and stepped through the doorway.

Somewhere else

Electra was standing in a thorn covered castle. Not a soul moved in this place, nor were there any inhabits she could find so far. "Is anyone one here?" Electra called out as she navigated the castle. "hello! I'm AmberTwo but you can call me Amber." A little girl with turquoise hair said from a window in the tallest tower. "Aren't you dead?" Electra asked. "Yep, twice in fact. This pink floating cat gave me this place to live in." Ambertwo yelled down as cloned versions of the Kanto starters crossed the drawbridge with food. "Those are my friends. Charmandertwo, Bulbasaurtwo, and Squitletwo." Amber said as she floated down from the window.

"Normally there is others around but only when you are dreaming can you reach this place." Ambertwo said. "I walked through a door, awake. I know Lady Mew made it, but a dream world wasn't what I expected, nor meeting Mr. Fuji's dead cloned daughter." Electra said. Sunshine nodded and said, "dreams are weird." Ambertwo giggled and asked. "You are a Volcarona, right? You look so pretty with your golden coloring. Are you a shiny pokemon?" Ambertwo went on to ask, "who is 'Lady Mew'?"

"Lady Mew created almost all pokemon, save for the manmade or cloned pokemon. She's the cat you met." Sunshine answered with pride. "And I am a 'shiny'. Mama told me she named me Sunshine because reminded her of the sun." Ambertwo smiled at this. "My sister found her egg. And Sunshine has kept me companion for almost 11 years." Electra said stroking Sunshine's fur. "That's so beautiful. You started your journey with a pokemon you had since you were born. I wish I could have gone on a pokemon journey." Ambertwo said.

"But you have had a journey and are still having one right now." Electra said. "Dreamers wander to this dreamworld and you get to hear their stories and get to know them before they awake again. Not all journeys require you to travel from your home. You have this castle and a sprawling land to explore whenever you want." Electra gestures to the landscapes beyond the castle that seemed to go on forever. "How is that not a journey?" She asked Ambertwo. Ambertwo cried and hugged her. "Thank you for saying that. You were the first to say it."

"Hello? I seemed to have been called here." Mr. Fuji said as he crossed the drawbridge. "Every time I sleep, I find myself traveling this land with the image of this castle and the way to it." Ambertwo rushed to him with even more tears yelling, "Papa! It's Ambertwo!" Mr. Fuji was shocked. "Is it really you? But I saw you die." Mew, sitting on a pink bubble, giggled. "You did it, Zappy! You kept her spirits up just in time for her father to make to the castle!" Mew said

"Is that you, Mew?" Mr. Fuji asked. "The pokemon that sparked a path of madness and advancement but was never found no matter how hard we searched." He said this still hugging his daughter for fear she'd disappear. "When she and the other clones died, I snatched up their souls and made this place because you wanted meet her again. The Laskaris clan says, 'Family first' so that's what I did." Mew said proud of her work. "Thank you, Mew and thank you, Electra. You told me I should see where the dream takes me." Mr. Fuji said with tears streaming down his face.

"You beat the challenge! The Kanto Gates are complete!" Mew said cheerfully. "The other regions have a lot more gates than two." Mew was Interpputed when Mewtwo appeared. He narrowed his eyes at Mr. Fuji but didn't attack him. "Why are you here?" He asked coldly, he distrusted any human that had a hand in his creation. "He's my Papa!" Ambertwo said as the thorns dissolved around them. "When the sleeper awoke the thorns choking the castle withered and died, turning to dust lost in the wind." Electra quoted a version of Sleepy Beauty. "Yep! The hero has found the princess and the curse is broken." Mew said.

The castle looked even better without the thorns. Statues, fountains, and other décor were now visible and made the castle seem more approachable as a result. "Time for you to go. They need to catch up." Mew said as Electra and Sunshine were thrown out of the Dream World.

Back in the waking world

Pokemon Universe

Pallet Town

Oak's Lab

Electra fell on a hard floor as Sunshine floated. There was a loud thump as a think leather bound book dropped next to her. "My word! How did you get here?" Oak asked setting down his Anchovies Spinach Pineapple pizza. "Fell out of a dream world Mew made." Electra said getting up. "And got a book for my troubles." She reads the tile of the book, 'Amber's Dream Tales'. It looked to be fairy tales of what happened in the Dream World. "The pages are illuminated like the manuscripts monks would make. Mainly because not everyone could read, the pictures helped them understand what was going on in the story." Oak said looking at the book's contents.

"The paper looks exactly like the kind the monks used. But it's lightweight and there is no end to the pages." Oak said as the index was adding to itself in real time. "A self-updating fairy tale book of infinity pages. That is so like Lady Mew's ideal gift ideas." Electra stated. Mew had odd ideas what was an ideal gift. This was just the latest she gave Electra. "How has the research been going?" Oak asked.

"Kanto is finished. There was a lot of stuff you got right and just as much you got wrong. That's not counting the secret files' contents. You really need to think hard what the public needs to know right now. Flying types love to gossip, or boast and brag for some of them, so I got a lot of information, that I double checked, out of them." Electra said taking a slice of his pizza. It was a weird combo, but she was hungry. "Where to next?" Oak asked. "I'm going to hit the Orange Islands because they are closest then head to Johto via Mt. Silver." Oak nodded. "Good Idea. I heard you won the Grand Festival. Your Contest performances are awe inspiring."

Winning the trophy was nice but it was being out on stage that she liked the most. She didn't care about winning, it was just a bonus. "I noticed Battling isn't really your thing like it is for Ash. Your pokemon dance across the battlefield leaving the foe bewildered and unable to get a clean hit in. But at the same time, you deliver devastating blows at a moment's notice. It is like watching a storm. You never know when the lightning will strike but you know it will." Oak said.

A month later

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Mt Silver

The Orange Islands had been uneventful. She met the cousin of Papa's Slowking, who was wearing a pair of pants made of Sunshine's silk to her amusement. She visited the trio of birds and their 'boss' Lugia. She learned legenderies can have babies but it so rare it that no one knew it was possible. I was going to stay that way because she labeled it as 'never reveal' when she filed it. Oak agreed in a heartbeat, knowing how the 'evil' teams used Legendries in the past.

And Here she was, trudging through a snowstorm for research. Sunshine kept her warm as she reached a cave to get out of the storm. Soon as she got out of the storm, she went about starting a fire. "You smell odd." A rumbling voice. "Indeed, son. She smells of Electric and Fire, like a pokemon." A female but still rumbling voice agreed. "I'm sorry if I'm intruding but the storm was getting worse." Electra said staring down a pair of Tyranitar, green Godzilla looking Rock/Dark type pokemon. The female had scar on her stomach area and the male, the female's offspring based on what they said, was smaller than his mother.

"It's nasty out this time of year. You should have waited to come through, human." The mother said kindly. "Professor Oak tasked me to double check the research and one of them is the weather of the areas, so I had to try. Too bad it was spot on about the whiteouts around here. It could be hours before it lets up." Electra said with a sigh. "At least you brought a powerful fire type with you." The male said. "Not even Ash was boneheaded enough to come here without a fire type on hand."

"Are you the Lavitar he helped?" Electra asked. "That's right. He helped find my mother and I'm fully evolved now. I've heard a lot about you. A human that understands pokemon and catches lightning with groups of electric types like you are one of them. You have come out of your father's shadow already and your journey isn't over yet." He said knowing that's why she went on this journey. "Papa only ever traveled and battled those that needed to be brought down a peg." Electra admitted. "big Sis has grace of a fox and moved out to her new home, but I don't have that. I'm restless and not sure where I want to be."

"All young feel that at some point. A desire to carve out their place in the world. For some it never really fades." The mother said. "Getting out of the shadow of the family is the first step. Remember that you will always have a home to come back to." Electra smiled at this advice. Being born into a family of greats makes standing out difficult. "Tell us of something you did. An achievement that you completed without your family making it too easy for your safety." He asked her.

Electra stared into the fire search her memory. The longer she sifted through them more she noticed a pattern. "Papa never made it easy. He only helped when he really needed to. I never noticed." Electra realized. Everything she tried to learn was of her own choice and never pressured into it by anyone. "Just as I expected of Zane. He will lay out all the tools you need and few helpful hints, but you must want it for him to help more than that." The mother said remembering when she met Zane, who helped her son with a move. She got a good read on how he teaches as her son did 'secret training' to impress her.

"He was trained that way starting out and see he got with it? The path you are taking is one you chose among many paths. Be like the mountain and don't let anything stop you from reaching your goal." The Mother said give her advice that she gave her son. Electra noticed it more geared for a pokemon that can bulldoze a tank than a human. It was still good advice. She felt lighter for some reason. Like a weight she wasn't aware of was lifted.

A few weeks later

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Ecruteak City

She had been requested to go to the Tin Tower in Ecruteak City by Morty, the ghost gym leader stationed there, so she changed her travel root to go there sooner. She still took the time to study the pokemon as she traveled and when she reached the city, a Gengar Jump scared her and got blasted with fire by Sunshine, who was not amused. "Gengar return!" A man in a blue shirt and head band said returning the fainted ghost pokemon. This was Morty. "I'm sorry about the greeting you got." Morty apologized. "That flamethrower was powerful. You have a well-trained pokemon." He complimented. Sunshine had taken out his ace Pokemon in one attack.

"Why did you call me here?" Electra asked. "It's better to show you." Morty said leading her to the Tin Tower. As they climbed the floors, she felt eyes on her. Then the bells started ringing. "about two weeks ago the bells other than the crystal ones, started rings like they are now. I investigated only to find the three dogs stirring me down. They demanded I get you to come here then they left after leaving your number on a piece of paper." Morty explained as they reached the floor with the crystal bells.

"Impossible! The only reason for them to ring is if Ho-oh is here." Morty said as the four crystal bells rang out. They went to the roof and before them was the Legendary rainbow bird pokemon, Ho-oh, in all her majestic glory. Morty fell back in shock as Ho-oh finally returned after the original tower had been burned many years ago. "Lady Ho-oh, why have you called me here?" Electra asked with a deep bow. Ho-oh looked at her kindly and stated in a voice that made Morty pause his chaotic thoughts with is beautifulness. "I wish to greet you personally in a place fitting for such a meeting."

"Even if the people aren't ready for me to return permanently to this place. Just maybe this visit will help them understand what it takes for it to happen." Ho-oh was looking sadly at the Burnt Tower as people on the ground pointed at Ho-oh and took pictures. "Make sure to tell them why I refuse to perch here." Ho-oh said flying away with a rainbow wing (more like feather but that what it's called) landed before Electra.

"She gave you one of her feathers. That is a great honor." Morty said as Electra put in a locket with a silver wing (a feather from Lugia) already in it. "The world is changing. To what end, I have no idea, but I am among the few that have any idea what's going on." Electra said with a sigh. "I think it started when Ash started his journey years ago." Morty guessed. He had heard of all the nor disasters Ash and been in. Things calmed down for like five years then it spiked in in chaos levels as new problem cropped up.

"We need to solve our issues before things end in an event like the 'Darkest Night' of Galar. Ten thousand years ago." Electra said.

A few days later

Johto Region

Charicific Valley

"I hope you know what you are doing." Liza a green haired woman said as she opened the gates set in the Charizard shaped rock formation. Behind her was a Charizard wearing a pick bow, Charla. Crow looking pokemon that looked like they were wearing hats, Murkrow, and a larger white breasted and red feather accented one, Honchkrow (their evolved form), cheered her on. Saying things in pokespeech like "Get the shiny back!" or "Show them why you don't mess with our group and get away with it!"

"I'm looking for the big one, right?" Electra asked. "You can't miss him. He sits on a rock showing off the thing he took. Ash's Charizard can show you where the 'shiny' thief is." Liza said as Ash's Charizard landed and looked at the mob of bird pokemon. "Another trainer? Didn't you learn from the last time your 'champion' failed to get your 'shiny back?" He said. "This one is different. She will show the brute the error of his ways. I have faith in her." Honchkrow said in female voice. "She is the Thunder Shaman."

"you mean she's the human that stands on high ground during a thunderstorm like a bunch of pikachu or Mareep?" Ash's Charizard asked. "This I have to see for myself." He led Electra deep into the valley to a flat boulder. On it was a gigantic Charizard lazed about, spinning a necklace on the tip of his claw. That had to be the stolen 'shiny' she was tasked to get back. "Those feather dusters sent another trainer to challenge me?" The brute said lazily. "Sent out your pokemon and we can get this over with."

"Lightning Vortex!" Electra declared with staff in hand. The spell that appeared was a tornado of electrical energy that drew in nearby loose rocks. The brute was shocked but breathe fire at the spell detonating it. "That's novel. A human that attacks like a 'mon." The Brute sat up, towering over her. He set the 'Shiny' aside and covered it up so the birds couldn't steal it back. He breathed fire that bathed her in flames and melting the rock around her.

As the flames ended, the brute saw her unharmed under a dome. The rock in the done was not even hot. "Try hiding behind that after this. Brick Break!" He swung a fist at the dome shattering it. He grinned think he win but the shards of the done zapped him, hard. "My Blast Shield has a nasty pay back when you break it." Electra said, charging an attack as the brute couldn't move. "You haven't beat me yet, Human." He spat the last word with hate. "White Lightning!" Electra declared and her version of the signature attack of the Blue White Dragon blasted the brute flying deeper into the valley, defeated.

Electra gasped for air as darkness creeped on the edges of her vision. "Are you sure you aren't a Pokemon masquerading as a human?" Ash's Charizard asked as he got the 'shiny' from its hiding spot. It was so jewel encrusted; it was gaudy. She guessed they like it because it was so shiny. "I'm human." Electra said as her caught her. She used way too much energy in that attack. The Charizards in the valley were whispering to each other about her. She had toppled the top dog of the valley.

When she got to the gate, Liza was amazed. "I saw the blast from here. You really shook things up in the valley." She said as the crow pokemon took the 'shiny' and cheered throwing it to each other. The boss was looking at the state Electra was in. "She battled hard to get the 'shiny' back. Even now she clings to wakefulness by a thread. I declare her worthy of caring for my offspring!" She declared. The Murkrow froze and one was clocked in the head by the heavy jewelry. Honchkrow set an egg before Electra and said. "Raise them to be a boss at least as great as I" She ordered her underlings to leave, wearing the 'shiny' around her neck as she led them away.

"That's wonderful." Electra slurred her words as she blacked out. "Better get her to the house." Liza said and Charla picked up the egg as they headed for Liza's house not too far from the gate. At least they would stop sending trainers here every few weeks.

A few hours later

Liza's home

"So, I get that the 'get the shiny back' bit but why did the boss give you her egg?" Liza asked. "Honchkrow have this odd why of raising the young they know are destined to be a boss." A still sleepy Electra explained. "The Egg is given to one they deem worth to protect the offspring until they are old enough to start a flock of their own or longer." Liza nodded but asked, "How do they form a flock?" Electra was hugging the egg as she lay on Liza's couch. "their future underlings just look at them and think 'Wow, I want to work for them!'. I've never heard of a human, let alone a trainer, being chosen so it's a first in history books."

"That amazing. What's with the lightning death beam and staff?" Liza asked. She could wrap her mind around understanding pokemon perfectly but magic? She wasn't to sure what to believe. "I have an extremely high affinity for electrical energy, including the magical kind. And an affinity for fire that all my family does, but nowhere near the level of my lightning affinity." Electra said. "And the staff is how you channel it better?" Liza guessed. "Yes, and I got it as a gift, and it has served me well." Electra said. "Get some rest. Just so you know, your finisher made the news." Liza shows her the news where a reporter saying the beam reached space before disappearing and everyone was baffled by the event. "You've become a historical event." Liza says as Electra drifts off to sleep, still holding the egg.

In the Dream World

Somewhere in the forests

"Thunder Shaman, we meet again." The boss Honchkrow said, as she was seeing too. "and my offspring is here too." Next to Electra was a black 'cloud' with beak. "Mama?" it asked in a female child's voice. "That answers the question of gender." Electra said. "Daughter of mine, we may not meet in the waking world for years, but we can meet in this Dream World from time to time. "Mama!" The unhatched pokemon cried. It was the only word she said but was full of so many feelings. The boss Honchkrow explained more details of what being a 'Boss' entailed. The unhatched pokemon soaked it in and Electra also paid attention to help her training plan.

A few days later

Johto Region

Greenfield

Hale Mansion

ballroom

"You want to see the tiles?" Spencer Hale, a graying man that had a trip to the realm of the Unown and sparked an incident when his young daughter Molly unleashed the power of the Unown but Ash saved the day. "Yes. I wish to summon one of them, just one, to ask them some questions." Electra said showing her ties to Oak. "I keep the box locked up in my office. Wait here." He left to get the stone box of Unown tiles.

"Are you a pokemon trainer?" A blonde brown haired teenage asked. "Molly Hale." She says offering her hand. "Electra Laskaris and yes I am a trainer, but I do more contests than battling." Electra answered setting the incubator on the table. "Who's the future cutie?" Molly asked. "A 'boss' murkrow." Electra answered. "Really? You must be the first human to have that honor." Molly said releasing an Ampharos, the fully evolved form of Mareep, an Ursaring, a large browm bear with a ring of lighter colored fur on his stomach, and a Donphan, an elephant that roll up and run you over like tire. "I have other pokemon but they are too big, not on me, or can't be let out of the pokeball in here." Molly said as Electra did the same. Loon was kept in the pokeball because of lack of water.

"These are cool pokemon." Molly said as Spencer return with the box. "Here it is." He said setting it on the table. Both he and Molly were on edge as Electra took out a 'g' tile. It glowed as an Unown of that letter appeared. "Hello there. I'd like to ask you some questions." Electra said. The Unown giggled then hit her of the forehead before returning home. The tile landed lifeless as she saw herself putting tiles into wall sockets to open something beyond a maze. "I need to take these to some ruin." Electra said as the vision ended.

"That's what it showed you?" Spencer asked. "If that's what they want, I guess I can let you take it. Be careful, they can make dreams come true by warping reality." He warned. Electra thanked him and put the box away. "Don't worry. They aren't the first reality warping being I met." She words surprised them as she returned her pokemon and left with the incubator in her arms.

Three weeks later

Johto region

The forest near Arborville (a town made of tree houses)

Present day

Electra had been exploring this massive forest for the past week. The notable landmarks were the Lake of Life, a lake with healing properties, and a shrine to Celebi, like the one in Ilex Forest. There was mostly bug, grass and normal type pokemon but oddly enough there was a Scizor, Sneasel, and Tyranitar living together who knew her personally, even if they never met. They simply said she hadn't met them yet. She had just finished her research when the tree glowed as she heard the 'Voice of the Forest'. Next thing she knew was the time traveling legendary pixie pushed her into a portal.

The past

Johto region

The forest near Arborville

Electra fell in front of the shine, just in time to see a born haired boy and a wounded Celebi appeared via time travel. "When am I?" She asked herself as a young Ash, Misty and Brock ran into the clearing. "Are you Ok?" Brock asked her. "Other than being set through time, I'm fine. I'm more worried about him." Electra said as she checked over the egg. It had been close to hatching for last few days and she wasn't sure if time travel was bad for the egg.

"Let get him back to Arborville." Misty said as Ash and Brock worked together to lift the kid up. Electra followed them.

An hour later

The past

Johto region

Arborville

"It can't be? He time traveled." Towa, a green haired old lady with a hoothoot, a small owl pokemon, staff said as she looked at the boy. "I remember you being older by at least a decade." Electra stated. "So, the Voice of the Forest got you too." Towa said looking at her sharply. Did I warn you before you entered the forest?" Electra laughed. "You did more than warn me. You gave me the riot act about not trying to catch the Voice of the Forest. Something about a poacher that cause trouble in your youthful years."

"I remember him now. Forty years ago, the pokemon ran a poacher out of the forest. Never heard about him since. I probably decided vague warnings wasn't enough anymore ten years from now." The boy, Sam as Towa revealed, shot up awake yelling 'Celebi!" Electra tripped him as he flew out of bed. "Oh no you don't! You just traveled back in time injured! Stand still." She forced him not to move as she put smelly paste on his singed arm and covered it in bandages. "This will treat any burn. Even tricky burns from the flames of a Houndoom." Electra said putting the jar of paste away.

"You know your stuff." Towa said with a laugh. "not many use the old methods with things like 'burn heals' at Pokemarts. Who taught you the ways of herbal healing?" Sam sniffed his arm and recoiled at the smell. "It works just as much as it smells. My Papa learned from a Shaman, so he knows his stuff." Electra said as Towa's Granddaughter, Diana, came in. "Are they ok? I heard a crash." Diana looked just like her grandmother at her age. "don't worry. Sam was resisting treatment and had to be reminded that running off with a burn untreated is ill advised." Towa said.

"Celebi is hurt and needs my help." Sam said grabbing his bag and ran out into the forest. "You better go after him." Ash, Misty and Brock quickly do so but Electra pauses to tell Towa, something bad is going to happen. I don't know what but there must be a reason I was sent back to this time." Towa nodded "The Voice of the Forest sent you back for a good reason. Do what you believe to be right." Towa adviced.

A few hours later

The past

Johto region

The forest near Arborville

They had found Celebi and after dealing with her pain driven vine attacks, they got her to let them help her. "Hello Celebi. It's nice to meet you again. Maybe this time you won't push me through a time portal out of nowhere without saying anything." Electra said getting a giggle from the pixie. "We need to get her to the Lake of Life. It will take a day to reach it." Electra said, hoping the forest hadn't changed too much in over a decade.

A few hours later

She stared at the trees blocking their way. "These were not here in my time." She admitted defeat. "That's fine. My mental map of the forest is forty years old." Sammy said to cheer her up. "Hand over Celebi." A man wearing a yellow mask over his face as he took a ball from his vest. The pokeball was all black and felt vile to her senses. He released a Scizor and a Sneasal, both felt like mindless machines. "Sunshine! Flashbang!" Electra said letting Sunshine out of her ball, who wasted no time to shoot a Sunny Day in the guy's face. "Run!" She said and they ran as they heard trees falling as the masked man yelled in pain and rage.

Hours later

Somewhere in the forest

"We lost him." Ash said. "Who was he?" Electra shivered. "The Iron-Masked Marauder. He's an elite member of Team Rocket. He's also the only person vile enough to use 'Darkballs'. They are vilest pokeball ever invented and there is only one left in my time. It's was systematically broken and put in a museum." Electra said. "How do you know all this? You haven't even told us your name?" Misty said. "Call me the Thunder Shaman." Electra said using her title. "As for how I know, The Professors of the regions gave me accesses to sensitive documents to insure I can complete the task they gave me."

"And how big a task is it?" Brock asked. "Global level and I can't say anymore because of that pixie's trick." Electra said, looking at Celebi in mock annoyance. She only smirked back. The mist was getting thicker as they walked. Wild pokemon had been guiding them since they escaped the Iron-Masked Marauder. "You're here." An Ursaring grunted in pokespeech as he stood with a bear cub pokemon with a crescent moon of its forehead, a Teddiursa.

The mist cleared and the Lake of Life was revealed. "Bath her in the water and she will be healed." Electra said. Sammy did so as Ash asked, "Why can't I scan most of your pokemon? Loon is the only one it seems to be able to find an entry on." Electra smiled. "There is more Regions out there that are slowing opening up to the rest. You will find so many pokemon to discover when you step outside homeland.

They picked berries from a nearby tree and relaxed. Night fell and freshly evolved Butterfree flew away for their first flight as the full moon glowed among the stars. Sammy started sketching Electra and Sunshine taking a nap with the egg between them. He had done one of ash's Pikachu and Celebi not too long ago. "One day I will document every pokemon, even the legendries!" Sammy told Ash. Ash told him about the Pokedex and how pokeballs had advanced from a ball you needed to crack to use.

The next day

The past

Near the Lake of Life

"I finally found you, brat!" Iron-Masked Marauder said atop a spider mech. "I'm going to make you pay for blinding me like that." Wires shot out and wrapped around her, reeling her in to eye level with the Iron-Masked Marauder. Her pokemon, other than Loon and egg, released themselves ready to help. The Iron-Masked Marauder let his pokemon out, including a Tyranitar, just as cold as the his other enslaved pokemon.

Luckily, Suicune, the blue legendry dog of the North Wind, ran across the water and blasted Bubble Beam as coverfire. It became a mad melee as elemental attacks blasted both the mech, which had an energy shield, and the enslaved pokemon. The Enslave pokemon attack in return. "I will catch that Celebi and overthrow Giovanni as leader of Team Rocket." The Iron-Masked Marauder said shocking her with maximum voltage and enjoying her screams of pain.

When she stopped screaming, he looked at her and stumbled back as she was grinning. "How convincing was that? All you did was charge me up." She started reversing the flow of electricity back into the mech. It spasmed and ran into the lake where it exploded, destroying all the Darkballs save one that fell from the Iron-Masked Marauder's hand. Electra coughed as she surfaced. The lake was a mess fishing out the metal and Suicune's water purifying talent, it would be like it never happened.

"Suddenly things are making sense." She said as she swam to shore. The Iron-Masked Marauder tried to escape with a jetpack but an army of bug type lead by Sunshine cannoned him with string shot, grounding him. "Well. What to do with you." Towa said glaring at the Iron-Masked Marauder along with the bug pokemon, her granddaughter and Mr. White, the owner of the riverboat/dirigible hybrid you rode on to get here.

"You can't do this to me!" The Iron-Masked Marauder said as the mask was pulled of revealing his reddened irritated eyes. He couldn't even see straight right now because of the flashbang. "I'm sure they have a nice safe cell waiting for you, away from the forest of angry pokemon." Towa said as the bugs made unpleasant sounds that translated to what they wanted to do to him. "Take me away from here!" The Iron-Masked Marauder said, changing his tune as he heard his formerly enslaved pokemon join the voices of angry pokemon. Mr. White threw him on to his boat and took to the air. Officer Jenny was waiting for him.

In the underbrush Jessie, James and Meowth watched everything go down. Jessie's Arbok and James's Wheezing had been waiting to ambush the winner of this fight, but their trainers had second thoughts. "That twerp is not normal!" James said with teeth chattering. "But that moth is so beautiful! James, what is it?" Jessies asked James flipped through flashcards "Let's see. Volcarona, a bug and fire type from the Unova Region. Very hard to find its pre-evolved form and is said to be able to replace the sun with it's heat in a pinch." James read off the flashcard. He got them as a boy even though they weren't to be sold outside of the region at the time. It helps to have rich parents that don't care about such rules.

"Drat! I'll have to shelf that idea for now. Let's get out of here before that 'Thunder Shaman' blasts us off like Pikachu does." Jessie says as they sneak away. their pokemon engraved Electra's appearance and voice in their mind. They would be on the lookout for her from then on.

The Present

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Arborville

"Thanks for the berry bread and the recipe." Electra said sitting in Towa's home. "It's no problem. You did save the Voice of the Forest." Towa waved it off. She had been waiting over 15 years to do it. "Is it ok if I call Sammy?" Electra asked. "Go ahead. I want to learn where he lives so I can send him bread." Towa said. Electra called Professor Oak. "Hello Sammy." She greeted him. Oak sighed. "So, it finally happened, I wasn't sure it was you until recently when you shot lightning into space." Oak laughed. "I can finally unlock the files about that event." He types something and the pokedex beeps.

"Sammy, I'm sending you that bread you loved. Expect it in the hour." Towa tells Oak. "The mail system has gotten speedy over the years." Oak smiled. "I can't wait to get it." He blinks as he hears cracking. "Do you have an egg with you?" He asked as Electra sets the phone down to take the egg into her lap. The Murkrow within punched her legs out first and tried to walk around. "Hold on. Break out completely first." Electra said as Towa and Oak chuckled. The egg crumbled leaving her holding the newborn Murkrow with a large chunk of eggshell on her head.

"Zappy Mama?" She said to Electra as the eggshell was removed. The newborn was larger than normal. "Welcome to the world, little one." Electra said. The murkrow looked confused at of static this world was compared the Dream World. She offered a Luxury Ball that the Murkrow would 'shiny' enough to be caught in. She let the newborn back out and the bird sat on her shoulder by 'walking' up her arm. She hadn't figure out flying yet. "How do you like the name, Trish?" She asked her newest pokemon. "I am Trish! Trish is boss!" Trish said much to Electra's amusement. She received an email. 'Meet me in Alto Mare in three days' time. You will know who to look for.' Was all it said. "Odd. It seems someone wants to meet me." Electra said.

Three days later

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Alto Mare

Electra had found the person that set the email and was wary of him. Giovanni, former leader of the now permanently disband Team Rocket, has aged well. He was wearing the trench coat and hat as he sat at a restaurant one of his former underlings started five years ago. "So why and how did you email me to came here?" Electra asked with Trish sitting on her shoulder, her favorite perch and her first bit of 'turf'. "I have my ways. I Have been looking for you for 15 years know, Thunder Shaman." He said with a smirk.

"Some of my underlings reported how you dealt with a traitor I wasn't aware of at the time. Never did like him much." Giovanni said. "The funniest thing happened not long after. Everyone that knew about the coup or were a part of it gave themselves up for my judgement. You left quite an impression on my members." He placed a suitcase on the table. "In here is some of the things I found among his collection you might be interested in. I have no need for it, and I feel you deserve a cut for you work." He says opening the suitcase. Inside was held items, nuggets, evolution items, and cash.

"Like I said, I have little need for this stuff and the original owners he took it from aren't around anymore." Giovanni closes the case and leaves without it. He tips his hat to her and vanishes into the crowd. She knew it was impossible to track him in the mazelike city that was much like Venice in Italy on Earth. "Zappy Mama! Make Shiny!" Trish said tapping the gift she got from the mafia stand user with her beak. "You want a shiny like mine?" Electra asked. "A better Shiny!" Trish stated. Electra had the nuggets so she could melt them down to make it for Trish.

A day later

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Alto Mare

"Man! Why is it so hard to find someone that makes jewelry?" Electra asked as she passed by the museum. "I might be able to point the way, Young Lady." A bald while full bearded man leaning on a cane said. He was wearing blue overalls, red shirt and work boots. "You'll have to take the tour here first." He said with a wink. Electra climbed the stairs and smiled. "That is a fair deal." She said as she was guided into the museum.

later

Inside the museum

"And here we have the fossils of the evil pokemon that wreaked havoc on our city in the past." Lorenzo, the old man and curator of the museum, said. "And in the middle of the room is the Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare or DMA for short." He said gesturing to a big machine. Electra was more interested in a set of circles near the DMA. "This does not use normal power sources, do it?" She said as her gut screamed at her to not touch it. "Of course not. You think just anyone could hook up a car battery or two and power it up?" Lorenzo asked jokingly.

"No, I mean it uses the lifeforce of a living creature that would be placed in this ring. Along with something round set in the dish up there." She points to a part of the DMA. "It's a last resort weapon made by someone extremely desperate." She stated. "You have good instincts. I hope you don't have ill intentions for being in this city." He said with an edge. "I've heard of machines like this before. It's never pretty when they are used. The Ultimate Weapon that was fired by King AZ in Kalos comes to mind." Electra said.

"Yes, I have heard that tale in passing as well." Lorenzo said gravely. A woman with and odd hair style came in and dragged Electra away without a word. Not a minute later a woman that idental to the first came in and asked "Grandpa, have you seen Latias? She rushed here for some reason." This was Bianca, his granddaughter. "She dragged away a young trainer who had a good idea how the DMA worked after looking it over." Lorenzo said. "She even compared it to the Ultimate Weapon from Kalos. What an odd girl." He sighed. "Best get there, hopeful, ahead of them."

The Secret Garden of Alto Mare

Electra had been dragged through the maze of walkways to an out of the way area. Then the 'woman', she felt more like a pokemon than human, pulled her through a wall into a hidden place. It was garden, well-tended and there was a fountain and tree swing. "There are four incoming pokemon!" Trish warned as four invisible pokemon readied attacks. The woman stood in front of Electra and started to scold them in pokespeech. "She is an important guest. Now stop that." She said and the four dispersed the attacks and revealed themselves as two Latias and two Latios. Latias and Latios had the same body shape, plane like wings and 'mask' around the eyes. The difference was that Latias had red and white feathers, and Latios had blue and white feathers.

"Yes mama." They chorus bowing their heads in shame. "You're Latias?" Electra asked and the woman shape shifted back to her normal form. "Yep. I've been waiting years to meet you!" Latias hugged her. "Zane is a good friend of mine and I just knew it was you the moment I spotted you walking around." Latias gushed. "Zappy Mama's Papa is so lucky!" Trish stated. "Who's this?" Latias asked looking at Trish. "I am Boss Trish!" Trish stated smugly. "Oh, you are 'boss' Murkrow. You will be a great boss with Electra helping you." Latias complemented as Trish preened.

"Latias! You can't just bring people here." Bianca said as she came through a side entrance with Lozenzo having a little trouble keeping up. "But she's Zane's daughter! I had to bring her here!" Latias said with telepathy. "Ah! That why you brought her." Lozeno said. "Hard not to after Zane let you talk to your brother." A ghostly Latios appeared from the fountain. He appeared tethered to something under the water. "She's safe. She did meet with someone not to be trusted but she wasn't aware who they were." (ghost) Latios said in their minds. "Not sure how she got so lost, but she was looking for a jeweler to make Trish a 'Shiny'." He said amused.

Electra crossed the distance and looking into the fountain pool. A blue sphere sat in the water and glowed with soul energy. "That is the Soul Dew. It keeps the water flowing and contains Latios' soul." Latias told her. "Zane did something to let my brother interact with us." Electra reached out and touched the Soul Dew, despite Bianca wanting to protest, and closed her eyes, opening her senses. She felt Latios' soul but hidden in it was an energy that was odd. It was almost like ghost type that felt more powerful than any ghost type she's encountered.

She stood up and looked at them, shaking off the water. "There's ghost pokemon energy added to the Soul Dew. Not sure what kind but it seems to be from a Legendary pokemon." Electra said. "That would explain the shadowy orb Zane 'added' to the Soul Dew that day." Latias said. "He got energy to help Latios materialize as a ghost." Lozeno arched a brow. "well, I guess he's got friends in high places."

One confusing route later

A plaza in Alto Mare

Even following the map Lozeno had given her was difficult in this maze of city. It was more like a fortress. As she entered the plaza the traveling jeweler set up shop, she gasped. Before her was mountain of a man. He was dressed like hiker and had long white hair with a face that told her he had experienced a lot. "King AZ." She said and the man looked up from his work. "Few call me that anymore, child. How do you know I am he?" AZ asked.

"Papa met you and described you in detail. Where is your Floette? Papa said she returned to you after meeting him." Electra said as a tiny fairy pokemon holding a black and red flower peeked from behind AZ. "You feel different, like that man did." Floette said in soft voice. "But you feel like a storm on the horizon. He feels like a star burning brightly." Electra smiled at the description. "Papa is like that. He will outlive us for sure. But like the stars he has an end waiting for him thousands of years away." Electra said.

AZ nodded wisely. "What brings you to my stand?" He asked. "Make me a Shiny please!" Trish said in a rough human tongue. "A 'shiny'?" AZ asked confused. "She means a glittery jewelry. Her evolution line love collecting 'shiny' stuff. It can also be a way for the 'boss' of a flock to show their worthiness and get unattached murkrow to join that flock." Electra explained. AZ said "Ah, that explains why they try to trade for my wares. I have some wares that may help her decide what kind she wants." He sets out an array of jewelry in a case. Trish shakily flew to the stand. She eyed each one critically. "This one but shinier." She said in human tongue, pointing to a medallion on a chain. Electra set a nugget as material. AZ looked at it. "This will be enough to make it. Do you want me to make it harder to break?" He asked. Trish hopped about saying "YES! YES! YES!" She was waiting for this for over a day. AZ released a Torkoal, an orange skinned tortoise with a black shell that looked like a furnace. Then he got out tools to smelt the gold.

As AZ worked, she noticed him put magic into the molten metal. Being over 3,000 years old, King AZ was among the few humans few some tricks with magic still alive. He poured the metal into the mold and worked on the chain. In five minutes, he showed her the finished product. The medallion had a thunderstorm shaped by set gems on one side. On the other was a figure wearing a mask and carrying a staff also shaped by set gems. "It's a little to jewel encrusted in my opinion but I'm sure Trish will find it perfect." AZ said as Electra paid for extras he added.

Trish stared at it, mesmerized. It was the perfect Shiny to start her collection. In fact, it would be the centerpiece. "I've got Shiny!" Trish said dancing about after AZ put it around her neck. "well, she's a happy customer." AZ said amused, returning his pokemon. "Thank you for using Eternal Flower Metal Work." AZ said, putting the tools away. He checked the time and started to pack up his shop. "It was nice meeting you, Electra." AZ said, Electra guessed Zane told him about her. "I need to get to the next town soon."

"How far do you travel?" Electra asked. "The whole world. Zane told me that I can atone by giving back. I asked him how to do that and he suggested I use my metal working skill I learned to help make that device I regret making. Now a days I'm known as the Mountain man with 'magic' hands." AZ said with a chuckle. "If only they knew how close they were to the truth." He had turned the cart into a bulky backpack that he shouldered. He left her and the still dancing Trish in the now empty plaza. She noticed a flower patch that had flowers just like the kind Floette had.

She looked at the map and noticed a note at the corner. It read, 'He only sets up shop where a special kind of flower is planted.' "I guess that's how he knew he would be here today." Electra said as Trish took her perch. Electra wondered how big she'd get when she'd fully grown. She had been getting bigger by the day.

A few weeks later

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Blackthorn City

Beyond Dragon's Den

Dragon Holy Land

"This is a rare chance for an outsider." Lance the red-haired champion of Kanto, said as his cape fluttered behind him. They were traveling into a part of the Dragon's Den that was 'off-limits' to only the trusted few. "IS it because of my Papa that you are letting me see this?" Electra asked. Lance paused in his walking. "No. Zane has little to do with you seeing this place. While he has been helpful to the G-men, but it was you who proved your worth to see this place." Lance said as he let her into a grassy open area with dragon type pokemon from all the regions living together in as much peace as dragon type can.

"Welcome to the Dragon Holy Land!" A yellow dragon with tiny wings that shouldn't let them fly but did, Dragonite, landed with a thump and grabbed Lance and Electra in a bear hug. "Nice to see you too." Lance said as the guardian of the Holy Land smiled at them. When he let them go, Lance explained this Dragonite was the only reason the place wasn't burnt to the ground. He was cheerful and loved to give hugs, but when angered, it was extremely dangerous. That's why the Dragon types played nice with each other and the non-dragon type pokemon that lived here.

He also explained why he was so powerful. This Dragonite was a pokemon that the first Blackthorn City Gym Leader trained and protected the sacred Prayer Flame, the first flame given to Blackthorn City by the Dragon types. Electra drew parallels with the first flames of Hestia her clan protected. "You may ask any question, but it must never be revealed to the public." Lance said. "Understand. It will be only readable by those you allow." Electra said.

She interviewed the pokemon and learned quite a bit. She found her eleventh 'gate' in this region. She had to hand it to Mew. Each one forced her to use her or her pokemon's skills in interesting ways. This one was about blocking lightning before it struck the flowers. Her reward was a mask. It looked like a stylized tribal thunder bird. "How does it look?" She asked Trish, wearing the mask. "Zappy Mama is fierce looking!" Trish said. Electra really looked like a Shaman now. "You really are the only one that can deal with the anomalies." Lance said. "Nice mask by the way." He added when she turned to look at him.

"Lady Mew is solving a dispute among the Legendries. I happen to be the subject of the dispute." Electra told him. Lance sighed. "This is Ash all over again. I swear he draws all kinds of luck to him wherever he goes." Electra chuckled, the mask making it slightly creepy sounding. "I was in Wobbuffet Village and had to play a Mew Game that was just matching the wobbuffet to their trainer." Electra said. "Isn't the only difference being the female has lipstick on?" Lance asked. "Did you know that the cyan body is only a decoy? The black tail with eyes is where it's brain is." Electra said.

"That makes a lot of sense. They are very protective of their tails. Have had any other interesting 'Mew Games'?" Lance asked. "The Whirl Islands Mew Games were very water related. It was amazing to see how many ways Lady Mew can use a water setting. We met Loon's school, who were total assholes to him. I'm happy he got lost years ago." Electra said with a huff. Lance winced. "Did they give any reason why?" He asked. "Because he was the runt! No other reason!" Electra growled. "Well, just as there are nasty humans, there are nasty pokemon." Lance said.

"Where are you headed next?" Lance asked, knowing that she had crisscrossed Johto visiting everywhere. "Mount Quena. It is the last place in Johto I need to visit. I've been holding off scaling it because it's special in a way. Right, Trish?" She asked the fully-grown Trish, who was almost as big as an average Honchkrow. "What is with your Murkrow? She talks in fluent human languages and is bigger than normal." Lance asked. "She's a 'boss' Murkrow. They aren't normal pokemon." Electra said as Trish was smug. "I'm sure she is a handful." Lance said throwing a berry to Trish because she had been eyeing the ones he was snacking on. "The boss is pleased by your donation." Trish said with a beak full of berry.

A few days later

Pokemon Universe

Johto Region

Mount Quena

Electra was scaling Mount Quena, an almost vertical climb, without any tools. She gritted her teeth as she remembered why she was even doing this. When she first got to the region, Lady Mew had told her that she'd come here last and must scale it without any tools because Yveltal bet she'd fall to her death. She was buffered by the high winds and pouring rain. She didn't have any pokemon out and she was using 'lightning claws and talons' to get a better grip.

She was going to electrocute that Overgrown Death Turkey of a legendary next time they met. (He's more of Condor or vulture in appearance. But she's not in a good mood.) She got over the ridge and slid down into the valley that was at peak, when she was teleported somewhere else.

Inside Mount Quena

"I have never been so happy to see you Mewtwo." Electra said, dirty, scoffed up and short of breath. "Why were you climbing without tools?" Mewtwo said annoyed. "Blame that Overgrown Death Turkey. He bet I couldn't climb it without tools and Lady Mew bet I could." Electra said. Around them was springs, trees full of fruit, and cloned pokemon and their offspring. "Figures he would say that. And you proved him wrong, nearly losing your grip at multiple times along the way." Mewtwo said annoyed.

Electra was picked up the clone Charizard and placed in a pool that was just like the recently recovered Clarity Lake at the peak. The lake on the peak and pools in the mountain had healing properties as well as promoting plant growth. "Thank you Charizard." Electra said as the water did its work. "You are the gutsiest climber to come to this mountain." He said. "Just sit in that water until you are healed up." Electra sighed. "Is it true? You are the Thunder Shaman?" The clone Pikachu asked. Electra smiled and offered a finger that (Clone) Pikachu meet with his tail and light sparks scattered as they greeted each other, Electric pokemon style.

"you are ok in my books." (clone) Pikachu said. Clone Meowth padded up to her and demanded she pet him. She chuckles scratch behind his ears. "You are just like over pokemon. I don't get why people seemed to flip out over cloning pokemon." Electra said. "It's because some feel it's unnatural." Mewtwo said. Electra started laughing. All the clone pokemon look at her. "Fossil pokemon are revived by cloning the parts of the DNA that are damaged." She explained. "And they don't complain about that! What a bunch of hypocrites!" She went back to petting (Clone) Meowth, who enjoyed it a lot.

"I wasn't aware the technology used to create me was used in such a way." Mewtwo said. "Cloned pokemon and their offspring have left to see they world over the years. The ones that stayed are content living here." He explained. Notably among the ones that stayed were the fully evolved Kanto starters. Their skin had very noticeable oddities and they wanted nothing to do with the chaos that would follow them if they left.

"You Did it!" Mew said popping in. The clones were used to her surprise visits and Electra was expecting it. "Lady Mew, please don't have me climb a mountain without tools again. It's not fun." Electra pleaded. "Ok! I only did it because I knew you could make it." Mew said hugging her head. "You remember going the Ruins of Alph?" Mew asked Electra. "I's hard to for get being sucked into their home and spending a few days chasing after a question mark unown to get back to this dimension." Electra said. "It was almost as bad as the Tanoby Chambers in the Sevii Islands. I had answer riddles by arranging the unown, who kept scrambling themselves for the fun of it."

"In Hoenn, there is place you must find but can only be found if you aren't looking for it or already found it." Mew explained. "How do I find a place if I can't look for it?" Electra asked. "Silly, Loon already found it." Mew said floating as she giggled. "Grandpa Rock! He lives in some kind ruins with unown markings on the walls." Electra realized. "Go there and use the tiles in that place you know they are to be put. Bye bye!" Mew said vanishing. Electra climbed out of the water and dried herself.

She walked to the cliffside opening. "Don't worry about teleporting me down at the ground. I've got a way down." Electra said letting out Sunshine and Trish. They watched as she created a cloud and the three climbed onto it. "Hoenn is calling me!" Electra said putting on her mask as the cloud carried her away. "Did she just ride away on a cloud?" Clone Blastoise asked. "She is the best human ever!" (Clone) Pikachu declared with a grin. Mewtwo chuckled to himself. Leave it to a Laskaris to find a crazy way to travel.

A few hours later

Pokemon universe

Hoenn Region

Littleroot Town

Electra floated above Littleroot Town, chatting with a Wingull, a sea gull looking pokemon. "so, you heard of a group of poison type that will be near the town down below us?" Electra asked. "Ekens and koffing lead by a really strong Arbok and Wheezing. They seem to be waiting for someone. They are coming any day now, so I'm getting out of here until their gone." The Wingull said flying away. "We'll land in the woods, so they do see my cloud." Electra told her pokemon.

As they descended, they were greeted by the group of poison pokemon. "Oh, great Thunder Shaman. We have traveled to welcome you to the Hoenn region at Lady Mew's request." The purple skinned hooded snake pokemon, Arbok hissed in pokespeech as the whole group bowed to her. Electra slid her mask out of the way to get a good look at them. "I remember you. You were Jessie's pokemon." She said the points to the Wheezing. "That would make you James' pokemon. You were watching my fight in the forest. What happened to cause you be here and not with them?"

"They told us to protect those pokemon from a poacher. And that is an order we are still obeying." Wheezing said with wheeze. "Oh. I guess your trainers have their kind moments under all the schemes they did. I think they are running food trucks now a days. You know with Team Rocket disband and all." Electra said. "That's wonderful news! They are successful at last!" Arbok hissed teary eyes. Wheezing was also weeping. Electra set off her cloud and it faded away. They set a box before her. "Take this as an offering for your mercy that day." Arbok said humbly.

Inside the box was a dusk stone, the Evolution item she had been looking for some time now. "Where did you find this? I been looking for it sense I got Trish's egg." Electra asked. "When we saw the egg you carried that day, we've been searching for one, knowing you might need it. It pleases us that you enjoy the gift that took so long to find." Arbok hissed. Trish had been trained to the fullest and wanted to evolve now so she grabbed the stone from the box. The stone vanished as she glowed and evolved into Honchkrow. She was twice as big as a normal Honchkrow.

Electra had to adjust her footings as Trish landing on her shoulder. "Thank you for the perfect gift." Trish said in commanding rich voice befitting a 'boss' Honchkrow. The poison pokemon bowed one more time before leaving a letter to deliver to their trainers if they crossed paths with Electra. Electra walked into town and everyone looked her way because of the mask and staff she had with her and her interesting choice of pokemon. She walked up to Professor Birch's lab and stepped in.

The brown-haired bearded professor looked up and almost dropped his drink. "Amazing! I've never seen a Honchkrow that big before." He said setting his cup down and asked, "May I examine her closer?" Trish flew the short distance and landed on his arm and told him in human tongue. "Examine away." He did so, having a little trouble keeping his balance.

"Amazing. Feathers are well groomed. Wings in perfect shape. Beak and talons are sharp. Eyes are undamaged. All in all, a more than healthy Honchkrow despite the larger than normal size." Professor Birch said after doing some tests. "I must say, your necklace is beautiful." He said looking at both sides of the medallion. "It looks great on you but not sure it would on a human." Trish puffed out her chest with pride. "Zappy Mama got me the Shiny." She said with pride.

"I see. I'm guessing you are her 'Zappy Mama'?" He asked Electra. "That is correct. I am Electra the Thunder Shaman." Electra said. "Oh, you are Oak's researcher." Birch realized. "your findings have been quite fascinating to look through. Learning how pokemon live in the wild is my field of study." He explained.

A day later

Pokemon universe

Hoenn Region

Petelburg City

Electra got up and got ready for the day. She was camping out on an island in the middle of the lake in Petalburg City because all the rooms were full of challengers. The Gym here was the normal Gym but it requited five badges to challenge. She had resorted to this because of the trainers bugging her about trading her pokemon. The water pokemon in the lake were more than willing to not let any no bother her for a while. She got a pot and a stand set up and cooked some curry with whatever berries and stuff liked nice together.

"You know there is better ways of getting them to back off, right?" Max, one of Ash's travel companions, said after his Gardevoir, a green haired humanoid pokemon wearing a white 'gown' and had red hons coming out of its torso, teleported him to the island. Electra had Sunshine maintain the flame as she stirred. "I can't just use my magic openly to escape. Besides, you had Jirachi teleport them away one time when he was visiting." She pointed out. "I'm very grateful that Jirachi can stay awake for more than a week because whatever happened but that is a bad example. Jirachi did it because they were crowding us." Max defended as his pokemon softly giggled at his plight.

"How can you use magic? You don't use it like other magic users do. They have to use a circle and tons of ingredients that are weird, like Happy Tears of an Aipom and things like that." Max said. Over ten years as a trainer and he was still confused about things he encountered. "They don't have the same training as I got growing up. Their method is easier and only requires the tiniest bit of talent to get something to happen. More talent you got the better results you get."

"And what about your method?" Max asked as she pass out plates of curry. "It's a more hand on combat style method. It's also much less rigid with what you can do. Depending on what element and how high an affinity you have for it, there is not much you can't do with a little creativity and will power." Electra explained. "Makes sense. This is the best curry I've ever had." Max said. "Why do you wear that mask all the time?" He asked. "Would you believe I had a secondary teacher that insists that if I'm going to call myself a shaman, I must wear a mask when I work my shaman skills?" She asked. "And he's a monkey name Rafiki that will whack you with the staff he carries, a lot."

"Like an Oranguru (an orangutan like pokemon that teaches other pokemon and people like a Guru does)?" Max asked. "Something like that. He is wise but a little hit happy at times." Electra said, remembering all the hits she got. "Helped me to remember what's poison and what is helpful. You'd be surprised how that can change with how you use them." Electra said with a bit of trivia. "What is that you like to do? I know you do contests, but it seems to be just to be performing for a crowd to you. Before you ask, my sister, May, did put me up to it. You are the newest rising star and she wants the scope form the source." Max asked.

"singing, playing the harp or lute, and dancing. Performing before a crowd feels right. Papa finds passion in fire, creating things, and an enjoyable fight. Big Sis has her interests. Mama dances, I'm not sure what else." Electra said. "There's something about making watchers feel something from a performance that calls to me. I once sung for a Queen and she loved it. She called my voice almost as lovely as some among her court." She was smiling but Max remarked, "That sounds a little rude to me." Electra remembered how the Fae Queen's voice was far more perfect than hers. "She isn't human. It was a compliment she rarely gives. People have sold their soul in hopes to hear he say those words." Electra said.

Gardevoir read her surface thoughts and say an image of the Fae Queen. "She looks otherworldly. Beautiful but otherworldly." She said telepathically. "That is the way of her kind." Electra said putting the stuff away. "How did you know how much food to make?" Max asked. "I expected someone to come. ALF helped narrow down how many were coming." Electra said amused. "It was nice to talk with you." Max said as his pokemon teleported them away. The Petalburg woods would be her next place to visit. She'd deal with all the mainland then do the sea routes and Islands. She had started to work out a system to streamline the research, giving her more time to talk to the local pokemon and learn about interesting 'side quests' to look into.

A few hours later

Deep in the Petalburg Woods

"I have been stuck like a pokemon for 50 years! You don't think I would look into why my brain isn't getting too big hot my skull?" An Alakazam in the human tongue. "It took me a decade to talk like a human!" He said annoyed. This was Seymour, a child gifted with ESP that ran afoul with the Unown somewhere and was turned into a Kadabra later that night. His mother chased him out of his home, and he was forced to live outdoors for years. "The closest I've figured is that Alakazam has a skull that is 'bigger on the inside' via some means I don't understand yet." Seymour said annoyed.

"How long have you been working on this theory?" Electra asked. "thirty years and there is still some much to research and equations to prove it. If only I wasn't such a brat growing up, I'd still be human." He paused then added. "I also would be an old man complaining about a lot of stuff. I guess being a pokemon has its benefits." He admitted. "You are also the only known case of a child turning into a Kadabra. And Lady Mew let me know you kind of made yourselves immortal when you badmouthed the unown." Electra told him and he froze. "Curse the stupidity of my younger self! I will not waste the opportunity I cursed myself with." Seymour declared and went back to his research. Electra left him to his work.

An hour later

Petalburg Woods

"I wasn't aware I'd meet a Slaking in these woods." Electra said to the 'king of the Petalburg woods', who was lounging next to a pile of berries that pokemon collected to pay tribute to him. "And I didn't expect to meet the human that is causing such a fuss in the world these days." Florence, yes that's his name, said scratching himself with a yawn. "You will find I known but rarely found. I keep an eye on these woods and the pokemon give thanks." He explained, nodding to the pile.

"How did you get the name Florence? It's an odd name for a Slaking to have, not that there is anything wrong with it." Electra asked. The pokemon watching sighed in relief. Florence liked his name and would trash you if you made fun of it. "This human brat, she was likely four years old at the time, called me that when I was just a Slakoth. It's been decades but the name stuck." He dozed off and Electra added a few berries to the pile as she left.

Two days later

Pokemon Universe

Hoenn region

Rustboro City

Devon Corporation HQ

"Well, if it isn't the famous Thunder Shaman." Joseph Stone, the white-haired pinstripe suit wearing president of Devon Corporation, said, sitting behind his desk in his office. "I wish to see where you are harvesting the bioenergy to make your 'Infinity Energy'." She says making air quotes. The almost seventy-year-old man sighed. "I should have known you'd ask that. It's this way." He says getting up and leading her to a restricted floor.

Restricted floor

"As you can see, the pokemon are happy and healthy." Joseph Stone said as he should her pokemon hooked up to a wireless energy collecting machine via bands on their bodies but still being able to move about and have freedom. "This will be looked into discreetly, but they are not being harmed by the process, from what I can tell." Electra said as he sighed in relief led her to the labs.

Devon Corporation R and D labs

"The Pokémon Producer, aka fossil reviver as some call it, is one of the more successful large-scale projects we'd got. Each partner that had a hand in it figured out a slightly different way, and model of machine, to do the same thing." He said showing her a machine with five tubes of orange 'Creation Fluid' and a chamber to put the fossil in. "On the other end of the spectrum is the Pokemon Transformer machine. That still isn't working yet, and it's been two decades of work into it." Joseph Stone said annoyed.

They walk to the machine with a monitor. "This is the Pokemon Dream Projector. Hook up a pokemon and it will show you their dreams in perfect detail." He paused the admitted "The problem is dreams don't make sense most of the time, we have no idea what anything we've seen really means." Trish laughed. "You are no Dream related pokemon!" She snarked. Joseph Stone rolled his eyes. He had been mocked by Murkrow enough times to know not to argue back. Instead he moved on to the next machine. "The Pokémon Speaker, on the other hand, while a few technical difficulties with some 'dialects', has been working as intended. No longer will understanding pokemon be so restricted. Once we figure the last of the kinks in the programing, there will be no pokemon it won't translate!" He said proudly.

"What Breeds give it trouble?" Electra asked. "mostly Staryu, Starmie, Lunatone, Solrock, Elgyem and Beheeyem. There hasn't been much chance to use it on a legendary, so those too." He states with a laugh. "Giving the tour to a promising trainer, Father?" Steven Stone, the president's blue haired son and former champion of the Hoenn Region, said amused. He was wearing a black suit with silver trim and on his right ring finger was a key stone ring. "Not just any trainer. She is the Thunder Shaman." Joseph Stone said the to Electra, "This is my son, Steven Stone. He was the champion for a while but was dethroned by the current champion Wallace. That match was so down to the wire that they had to check the slow-motion camera to see which pokemon fainted first!"

"I'm Electra Laskaris." Electra said shaking Steven's hand. "Ah. You must be Zane's daughter. I face him in battle once and he might have won but I made him work for it." He smirks at Trish and says. "You must be the 'boss' Honchkrow I heard so much about. You are more beautiful in person than newspaper ever did." Trish puffed up with pride at his words. "You raised her well." Steven compliments Electra.

"How was it facing down the Weather Trio?" Electra asked. Steven thinks about it. "Scary and awe inspiring to put it simply. I had hoped that Team Aqua and Team Magma wouldn't have awakened them, but they did and caused primal reversion. It was an experience to battle them until The Mega Rayquaza appeared and dealt with them in a spectacular attack." Steven said remembered the battle well. Mega evolved Pokemon being swatted away like they were annoying pests as the weather was extreme heat and extreme rain at the same time.

"Like the world was at war with itself." Electra said, remembered how Zane described what it would be like if the Greek Gods went to war with each other. "Exactly what it seemed like." Steven said. "Good luck on your journey."

A day later

Hoenn Region

Rusturf Tunnel

Electra was using a different tactic to research this cave system. The Whismur, small pink with yellow tipped eared pokemon, were extremely shy and their evolved forms, Loudred and Exploud, were known to cause the cave to shake with their bellowing when they got angry, which didn't take much more than being too loud around here. She sat on a rock and played a song on her harp she learned from Lyra, the Celestial Spirit, called 'Song of the Stars'. Soon as she started singing, the sound based pokemon came to find the source of the music that echoed throughout the tunnels.

As she finished, they applauded her performance. "Your talent is recognized." The leader Exploud stated as she bowed in thanks. "Would you be willing to answer some questions?" Electra asked softly. The pokemon scratched his chin. Loudred had a big mouth purple skin and speaker ears. Exploud was like a purple skinned pipe organ (the instrument) if it was a creature with a big mouth. A loudred listened to what the Whismur wanted to tell him. In turn he told the leader of the area. "Very well I will answer your questions in between songs." He declared. Electra nodded and true to his word, he answered all her questions about the cave and their kind, in return she performed for a few hours, much the pokemon's delight.

A few days later

Pokemon Universe

Hoenn Region

Verdanturf Town

"How does it feel to win your latest contest ribbon?" A female report said after cornering Electra at the pokemon center. "It's nice to win but I enjoyed the contest more than winning." Electra said with a smile. The Cameraman almost fumbled the camera at this response. "You heard it here first! Electra Laskaris, the rising star of the Pokémon contest world is not the diva some of her opponents make her out to be." The reporter said to the camera. "Despite her evading reporters for the past months and her ability to command the people's attention when she's in the limelight, she is quite humble."

The interview touched on some things like, her pokemon, where she got her dresses, and why she called herself the 'Thunder Shaman'. Her answer for the last was as such. "It was given to me by my teacher, who I learned herbal remedies, among other things, from. He was an odd teacher to say the least. Others heard the name and it stuck." Electra said. "Is it true you are the 'ghost of Rusturf Tunnel'?" The reporter asked. Electra smiled amused. "That is true. I was performing for the pokemon of the tunnel a few days ago. They enjoyed it so much they had me play for a few hours." Electra answered sincerely.

"You sounded amazing. May we see the harp you used?" The reporter asked. Electra did so. "The harp appears to have silk cords and a bone frame. Viewers, I'm not sure the camera can convey this, but the harp feels 'magical' to me." The reporter said as she marveled at harp. "Can you tell us how it was made?" She asked. "I sorry but the secret behind its creation must remain secret. It is hard to make and require skill most don't have." Electra said. The reporter tried a different angle. "Would you play something for us then?"

"This is called 'Ballad of the Windfish'." Electra said and begun to play and sing. For a couple minutes, the people and pokemon in earshot, be it in person, on the TV, or the radio, just stopped as the performance took them away to a peaceful island that seemed to be from a dream. It took the reporter a little bit to get her bearings after the song ended. "I have no words to describe what just happened, viewer. Her performance was the best I've heard in my career as a reporter." She said with a mix of joy and sadness.

The next day

Daycare center between Verdanturf Town and Mauville City

"This is not good. Not good at all." The elderly couple, Frank and Alice, that ran the daycare center muttered to themselves as the lights flickered and all the power shut off. "Excuse me but what happened here? I noticed the lights going out." Electra asked as she entered the front door, the ball about tingled softly. "Something is going on at the Mauville powerplant." Frank said worried. "We'd contact Wattson, the electric gym leader, but there's no way we can leave. The eggs need to be kept warm."

"I can go. I'll leave Sunshine with you to help keep the eggs warm." Electra says as Sunshine came through the door. "Your Sunshine will be perfect." Alice said and guided Sunshine to where the eggs were. "Do hurry, young lady. I'm not sure how long this place can go without power." Frank said then going to check on the baby pokemon under their care.

Ten minutes later

Mauville City

"If you are here about power issues then I already know." A white and bearded man said as he nursed electrical burns on his arm. "What happened to you Wattson?" Electra asked as she healed him with a little magic. "That feels better. As for what happened, something drove the electric type from the New Mauville powerplant, an old powerplant we don't us anymore. Those pokemon moved to the running powerplant and refuse to leave until someone deals with what drove them out. They didn't take to kindly to my request to stop draining the power." Wattson said rubbing his healed arm.

"I just need to go to the old powerplant to get the power back to the city and the daycare center." Electra said. Wattson added "And the pokemon center too. There are pokemon in critical condition at this very moment." He hands her a copy of the key to old powerplant.

Five minutes later

New Mauville

It didn't take long to find the culprit, a Spiritomb. The pokemon was a purple gaseous disk-like form with a face and ring of dots made of green on the disk-like form. The oddest part of its 'body' was the odd keystone it was connected to. "All Electric Type must suffer!" Spiritomb bellowed telepathically. Electra knew this spiritomb. Over five hundred years ago in the Sinnoh Region, an Aura Guardian used a Pikachu and sealed this spiritomb away in a hallowed tower, a tower made of stones. Ash released it but helped seal it away again. Someone must have stolen the odd keystone from Sinnoh came to Hoenn with it.

She dodged rapid fire Shadow Balls. The reflect spell she used did nothing as the attack passed through. "FIGHT ME!" The Spiritomb roared, his anger focused on her because of her electric type scent. She slides on her mask and griped her staff. This Spiritomb must have the Ability Inflitrater. Light screen and things like that were meaningless to pokemon with that ability.

She rained down lightning, starting a game of a cat and mouse in the maze like powerplant. She was using everything in her arsenal to ware this pokemon down. She even got the NSFPA (Not safe for populated areas) ATs Zane gave her to give herself a speed advantage. This was a good idea because the Trick Master had turned a large portion of the place into a skate park/playground. Spiritomb roared as he was hit with yet another Mine spell. Electra's spells.

Ten minutes later

New Mauville

"Binding Spark Chain!" Electra said and Spiritomb was trapped in web of electrical chains. Electra, breathing heavily, used White Lightning to make Spiritomb faint. She limped to the pokemon and tapped a Dusk Ball on him. It rocked a few times before signally a successful capture. She used her ATs to get to the entrance quicker. As she did so she checked the moves of her new pokemon. "WHAT IN TARTEROUS IS THIS?" She yelled. Spiritomb knew moves that would have worked so much better by but he only used Shadow ball, Dark Pulse, and Giga Impact against her. "I'm going to train him to not assume he can win with just those moves." She muttered as she stated.

40 minutes later

Mauville City powerplant

"The Spiritomb has been beaten and captured." She told the wild Voltorb, Electrode, Magnemite, Magneton, and Magnezone. She was too worn out to argue as they debated whether she's telling the truth or not. They sent a Magnemite to check it out. Electra passed out and was caught by multiple Magnemite before she fell. They finally noticed how injured she was. She had been cut up by the shrapnel of the attacks she dodged. On top of that, she was spent energy wise to the point she couldn't make a spark appear if she wanted.

Ten minutes later

Mauville City

Pokemon Center

Electra woke up to a Magnemite feeding her electricity as a Chansey watched her vitals. "Oh, you're awake. You gave us quite scare, young lady. If it wasn't for the electric type pokemon you would have flatlined from lack of electricity in your body." She scolded Electra in pokespeech. "But I had to stop the Spiritomb to get the power back." Electra defended herself sleepily. "That might be true, but we can't thank a corpse, now can we?" She pointed out. "You will stay here and let the Magnemite recharge you back to safer levels. You are lucky we have Magnemite as emergency power generators." Electra winced at the harsh words. She drifted back to sleep.

The next day

"Thank you for dealing with that issue. What was a Spiritomb doing in Hoenn?" Wattson said just as confused as she was about that. She was still bed bound by order of Nurse Joy, so she wasn't going to be leaving town until Joy said so. "No idea but it won't be causing issues now that I beat it and caught." She showed him the Dusk ball. "Your arms are bandaged up completely and We had to remove splinters of metal, wood, stone, and other stuff from said arms. After that experience, I hope you are happy with yourself." Nurse Joy said tapping her foot with a stern glare.

"I have no idea why you are like an electric type pokemon but that just mean you have to watch out for overusing electricity. It can kill because the body needs electricity to function." She informed her. "Not all Electric types have that weakness, the steel type ones seem to just go into 'sleep mode' and recharge with time." Wattson adds. "I think it's because they are more mechanical and don't have the squishy insides like more animal like pokemon." He elaborates. Electra smiled. "That's what I figured out in my research. What you don't understand is who the Spiritomb is."

She explains in detail. "To hold such a grudge that he would attack any and all electric type pokemon wholesale." Nurse Joy said shocked. "I'm lucky he didn't use all the move he knew." Electra said then showed them the list. "HOLY MOTHER MEW! That is a monster of a pokemon!" Wattson said, nearly having a heart attack. "Electra! I have Tracked down cause of Spiritomb being in Hoenn!" Clu declared, coming from a computer. "Corpse was found an hour ago by Officer Jenny. The extreme amount of blunt force trauma that made the body unrecognizable shares an 85% similarity with contact moves like Giga Impact." Clu reported.

"Wattson. We know the cause of the Spiritomb." Officer Jenny said coming into the room. "The remains of a poacher that has been causing trouble in Sinnoh was found near the city limits." Wattson finished for her. "And it was crushed by a Giga Impact attack." He said gravely. "Yes. That is want we believe happened. Should we lock the Spiritomb away?" She asked him. "No. Spiritomb is better off in Electra's hands. She can deal with him better than any of us can." He decided. "Oh! The Thunder Shaman. I know she will be able to handle it." Jenny said saluting and leaving.

A week later

Slateport City

Nurse Joy had finally released her after four days. She came to Slateport to 'take it easy', Nurse Joy called her when her Slateport relative informed her Electra had don't the pokemon contest despite being told that. After being chewed out over the phone, Electra went to the beach in a tasteful swimsuit and lounged on a towel. Sunshine had been quite popular at the Daycare Center while she was recovering. The baby pokemon adored her stories and called her 'Aunty Sunshine'.

"Hello there, Missy!" A jackalope, a hare with antlers, said appearing out of nowhere. Electra looked around and long she seemed to see the animal, who was wearing a metal chest plate and holding a dangerous looking mace. "I am Jace the Gate Keeper and a part of your Stand 'My Spirit Will Go On'." Jace said. "I awakened my Stand. Since when?" Electra said softly. "When you nearly killed yourself last week. Not the best way to wake up your sleeping power but what do I know? I'm just the power you awakened." He said annoyed. "I've been waiting for you to fully awaken me since you climbed that mountain." Jace said.

"So, what does my Stand do?" Electra asked. "That Missy is a complex question. I am a gate keeper, so I guard a gate. This one in fact." A large stone gate appeared a few meters from Electra. "This gate can take you anywhere, but you have little control where you end up. I expect you to use me after you are down with that task of others." Jace said as he and the gate vanished. "Of course, I get a stand that can talk back. And it's my favorite cryptoid to boot." Electra said with a smile.

Two Months later

Pokemon Universe

Hoenn Region

Deep Underwater Ruins

Electra was thankful for the Davon Diving Suit she was given because Loon had taken her into a trench that was black. No light reached this zone of the sea. When they entered through a rock into a hidden ruin, she was in awe. She took the diving suit off and put it away. "What do you want?" A grumpy voice demanded. "Grampa Rock! I'm back!" Loon said as Grampa Rock surfaced. "Brat? When did you evolve?" He asked. "A while ago. My trainer, Electra, has been training me as she traveled the regions. We just finished Hoenn and need to stop by here." Loon explained as Electra said scanning the walls.

"She's Zappy? Doesn't look like much." Grampa Rock said. Loon explained about the places they been and the crazy things that happened. "You're telling me that a human is finally trying to figure the whole truth? Took them long enough." Grampa Rock said amazed. By now they reached the fountain that had a view of the door to the maze.

"that door done there leads to a maze as far as I know. That onion pixie wasn't too clear on that topic." Grampa Rock said. Electra looked at the door and read the message. It spoke of things that only a select few had privy to knowing. She found the sockets in the wall, clogged with clay to hide them. These ruins had a fun trap to it, one that the Children of the Heath used a lot. If you opened the door without the key, you entered an unsolvable, ever twisting and changing, maze. Zane was proud of that rune trap, even if he only enhanced the already existing, but much simpler, rune trap a lot.

Electra grinned as she found her Papa's maker's mark on the door frame. She took out the tiles and placed all of them in the right order. The sockets, and tiles glowed before vanishing along with the box they came in. The wall slid opened and a stone disk was in the space. There was also a letter with her name on it. She took the disk and the letter as the wall closed seamlessly like it couldn't ever open. She opened the letter.

"'Little Firefly, if you are reading this then you have started your pokemon journey. When you were two, Mew had me go back in time and assist an ancient civilization safeguard secrets that you would one day find. I decided to leave this letter for you to clear up some confusion. Mew told me you would be a raising star. I don't know what that means but I was so happy that my little girl would become that. I await to hear what your adventure brings you patiently at home. Ever loving, Your Father.'" She read it out loud for all her pokemon to hear.

"You mean to tell me you are the daughter of that crazy lava swimming human?" Grampa Rock asked. Spiritomb was also surprised. Electra had sat him down, metaphorically, and made him explain his hatred for electric types. The 108 souls that made up his being had been slain in a war by a dragon that used fire and lightning. When she asked where, he said Unova Region, meaning the souls were killed by the original legendary dragon of Truth and Ideals before it was split into the Tao Trio. The reason he was shocked, was that he remembered Zane slicing up army he was apart of, another time travel paradox that Mew caused happen.

"He has been time traveling a lot." Spiritomb revealed. "All across history he has been spotted in some form only to vanish." Spiritomb paused. "He tried to stop the wars from happening, but no one really listened, and he was forced to slaughter again. He has been called the Bloody Knight by the survivors of the wars he was in." Loon shivered. Pokemon knew all about that figure in history. When you faced him in battle, you fought a force of nature. Be it weapons, unarmed, or elemental attacks, he was ultra-dangerous.

"Great. He's that guy as well." Grampa Rock said as Electra uncovered a round socket, also filled with clay, and the disk fit right in. The stone door opened to reveal a tiny room with a stone chest, resting on a raised pedestal. She walked in and opened the chest. Inside was scrolls that detailed how to make a perpetual motion machine to power a golem. This was too dangerous for even the forbidden folders. She would not even mention these ruins. She exited the room and returned her pokemon save Loon.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Unown and Grampa Rock." She said bowing to the Unown peeking out of portals to their home and the grumpy immortal fish. "It's fine. I know won't blab about this to anyone." Grampa Rock said as she suited up. "Tell Zane I said hello." Grampa Rock said as Loon carried her out of the ruins.

Ten minutes later

Sea Temple Samiya

Soon as she had left the ruins, a current had sent them into the bubble of legendary sea temple that rode the sea currents. "I guess we can cross this one the list." Loon said as the 'Prince of the Sea' legendary pokemon, Manaphy, popped up from the water near the 'port' of the temple. "Hello! Welcome to my home!" the little blue pokemon said jumping out of the water.

Electra took her scuba suit off, again, and said. "That current is hard to navigate." She told him. Manaphy giggled. "But it brought you here, so good things can happen because of it. Like how I met May." Manaphy said. "do you have the People of the Water's Mark?" She showed him the bracelet of sea blue oval crystals. "Yeah! I can give you the tour. Remember not to take the jewels of the Sea Crown or this place will flood." He said and started to tell her about the temple.

A few days later

Hoenn Region

LaRousse City

Her last stop was the technically advanced city that the Battle Tower was. A Block Bot, a floating block with a face and more blocks attached to the main block for it to do its jobs, greeted her and requested her passport. She showed it and the bot scanned it. "Say Cheese!" The Block Bot said taking her picture. A few minutes later she was given a keycard that would be required for everything in the city.

A few hours later

LaRousse City

The gardens

Electra finally found the gardens. She did use the moving sidewalks and ended up getting a little lost. When she did find the gardens and enter, it was just in time to see a light blue haired man talking to a pair of Deoxys, a legendary pokemon from outer space. ALF let himself out of his Pokeball and started to talk in a language of flashing lights on his 'hands'. The Deoxys responded in turn with mini auroras. "This is odd." The man, in his late twenties, said. "I haven't seen a pokemon that talk in lights before. I'm Tory Lund."

"I'm Electra Laskaris." Electra said, Trish, who came out of her ball and sat on her shoulder, added "I am Boss Trish." Tory chuckled. "My dad, Professor Lund, my father is looking for you, but he can wait a little bit." He showed her the guide she wrote to new trainers figure out what they would need when they start their journey. She had written it just about a month ago. "Would you please sign this? I pick this up from the bookstore because it looked interesting, but it was so much more." He said. "You detailed some much that new trainers don't realize before it's too late." She took the book and signed it.

A dark-haired woman came into the gardens. "Excuse me, but would you come with me." She asked politely. "This is Yuko, my father's lab assistant." Tory said as she gave him his book back. "ALF you can stay and chat if you want." Electra said as Yuko guided her to the lab.

Ten minutes

LaRousse City

The lab

"Thank you for coming." Professor Lund said. He looked like a shorter haired and older version of his son. "What can I do for you, Professor Lund?" Electra asked. "After we heard of your ability to use electricity like an electric type pokemon, I had been hoping to do a few tests." He said. "Nothing too major. I just need a sample of your energy, if you are willing." He finished. "that's fair. What do I need to do?" She asked putting on her mask.

Yuko lead her to a chamber with a pair of devises and an Electrode. It smirked at her as they waited for the test to start. "You may start." They heard over the intercom. Both Pokemon and Human sent lightning at the devices. The two watching the monitors worked fast to run the program. The results were not what they expected. "An 89% match? She claims she uses magic and natural lightning mixed together to use her spells." Yuko said. "That would mean Pokemon use 'magical energy' to do their moves. The question is what is the 'magical energy'?" Professor Lund said as Yuko told them to stop. They'd got the breakthrough they needed and planned to move the next step.

An hour later

LaRousse City

Bookstore

Electra sat behind the table as people lined up to have her sign her book, like she did for Tory earlier. It was the reason for her coming here. Three days of signing, and selling, books before she headed for Sinnoh. "Is it true you walked into a volcano?" A seven-year-old kid asked as his mother paid for a copy of her book. "Yes, I did, but it was for research and I knew my limits. Devon Corporation made a Diving Suit that can serve as an all-purpose suit, even space." She said, making the kid go wide eyed. "You plan to be a trainer, right?" She asked. He nodded. "This book will help but it won't solve all the problem you'll encounter. I'm going to be publishing a major research paper that will rock the world, hopefully in a good way." She said handing the mother the signed book. "When I'm a trainer I'll be cool like you!" The kid said as he walked away.

"Who do I make this out to?" Electra asked as a green haired man was next in line. "Drew, a veteran Pokemon Contest winner." The man said. "When I heard the rising star, Electra 'The Thunder Shaman' was doing a book signing in my hometown, I had to see for myself." Drew presented her with a bouquet of red peonies, a flower that symbolized good luck and fortune. "Here's to your future endeavors." Drew said paying for the book and leaving with it.

The next two days passed much the same, signing books and getting gifts from fans. In her free time, she got to know the wild pokemon that lived in the city. As much as the city was technology focused, they kept nature intact.

A week later

Sinnoh Region

Oreburgh City

Oreburgh Mines

Electra said snickering as she watches the overgrown death turkey get hit by the attack she sent, through the Unown's home and into the Hall of Origins in the middle of a meeting. He was blaming the electric type legendries, not noticing the holes she was watching through. That will show him not to make her almost kill herself because of a bet. Thundurus, Tornadus, and Landorus, the genie like pokemon with clouds for their lower body, were the only ones that noticed and smirked at her. She was on good terms with them as fellow 'cloud rider' and they knew she was planning to get back becks they crossed paths more than once among the cloud layer.

She turned her mining helmet back on as the portal closed. She had some fossils to find for science! The revived pokemon remembered what the past was like and there was placed made for their needs in this modern age. If they couldn't fit in, Mew stepped in and took them to where they can, much to the humans' annoyance and her amusement.

She was had gotten the area research done quickly because there wasn't much to correct so far. Her pickaxe chipped away the rock and coal, which was carted away in minecarts. "Find anything?" Roark, the rock gym leader of the city, asked. He had short red hair that was a little spiky and his glasses glinted in the light from their helmets. "I think I found something." Electra said. She had uncovered a tip of something.

Working together, they excavated a statue of Mew made of petrified wood. "Amazing." Roark said, studying it from all angles. "This wasn't made by humans. The cuts here were made by a scythe like blade, likely a Kabutops." He said. "The ancient pokemon must have been visited by Mew at some point and made this likeness to honor her." Roark got an empty minecart and loaded the statue into it. "You can keep looking, Electra." He told her as he pushes the minecart toward the exit.

She heard the wall she had been working on crumble and dust filled the air. Roark came running, as he heard the sound. He had let someone get the statue out of the mine for him. They peered into the opening and found the wall to extend twenty meters of crumbled rock before opening into a cave system. "Well, this is unexpected." Roark said. They were in the deepest part of the mine and they had no idea it was anything other than solid rock down here.

They entered the cavern and found something amazing. Fossil Pokemon, alive and well, living in a closed system for who knows how long. A Tyrantrum stumps up to them as Roark reached for one of his pokeballs. "Don't. We are guests at best and intruding snacks at worst." Electra said softly. "We come with no ill intentions." She said respectfully. The Tyrantrum looked at them with interest. "who are you, odd creatures? You look like the Burning One but different." The pokemon said in a rumbling royal sounding male voice.

"We are humans and you have been down here for a long time." Electra said as the Tyrantrum got close enough to take in their scents. "You smell of dirt." He comments at Roark, dismissing him as important before looking at Electra and bowing. "We have awaited you, Hair of the Burning One." He said as all the Fossil Pokemon bowed, in different ways because of their types of body shapes. "May I ask why you are all bowing to me?" Electra asked.

"Along ago, our ancestors faced doom as the land quaked and mountains belched fire and the planet's blood. The Burning One and Lady Mew gave them a choice. Brave the doom striking the land or survive in caves until the Burning One or his Hair's arrival. They would lead us out in world that is more stable." The Tyrantrum said with great reverence. "The cave has proved all we ever needed until recently, a sign our time in the dark would be over." Electra nodded. The Statue acted like a seal and when she entered the mine a few days ago, the seal weakened.

"Come, we must show you the relic. When you smell it, you will know we are telling the truth." Tyrantrum said then added, "The dirt human can stay here." Roark did need to understand Pokemon to know he couldn't follow Electra. To enforce this, a pair of Armaldo, tall bipedal pokemon with mantis shrimp characteristics, picked him up by his arms and then waited for their leader to return. "I guess I'm going to be hanging with you two." He said.

Ten minutes later

"This is the relic." The Tyrantrum said. The 'relic' was the fossilized remains of an arm. Electra suddenly remembered a story she heard as a child. "Papa's arm that he lost to save dinos." She said. "Yes! The Burning One lost that arm was a sharp rock fell. He protected a Kabuto, but his arm grew back like it was never lost. The lost arm was enshrined here, and his scent has never faded even as the arm became stone." Tyrantrum declared. "Please show us the way-out Hair of the Burning One." He asked her.

"I know of a way if you don't mind floating in a dimension full of floating giggling squiggles with eyeballs." Electra said.

An hour later

Sinnoh Region

Oreburgh City

Outside of the Oreburgh Mine

Workers watched, speechless as a portal opened and living Fossil Pokemon came out amass. They swear one of them was carrying a human arm but didn't want to get close to check. The Armaldo were still carrying Roark, who was glaring at the Unown giggling at his predicament. This day would be known as the Oreburgh Portal incident from then on.

A few days later

Sinnoh Region

Floaroma Town

Pick a Peck of Colors Flower Shop

"Your contest was amazing, but I have to know about that crazy incident that happened." Forsythia, the teal haired female shop owner, said amused. "Did Roark really get carried around by Fossil Pokemon." She asked laughing as they made poffins, buns or cookies made of berries. "They were never given the order to put him down until I asked their leader why they were still holding him. He was more annoyed at the nickname they gave him, 'Dirt Man'." Electra said laughing as well.

"How old are you? Your exploits made you seem like a veteran trainer with years under your belt." Forsythia asked. "11 years old as of three days ago." Electra said, throwing a sweet poffin to Trish. Trish wasn't too much of a picky eater, most of the time, that's why it's a pain to get her to take any kind of medicine without a fight. "I had a small party with some friends before I got to town. I miss the parties Papa would put together. He really outdoes himself trying to make it meaningful. The employees' ideas are not always safe or needed." Electra wistfully.

"That doesn't make your feats any less important. If anything, it makes them stand out more. Kidd Summers is a grown woman known for breaking records and setting new ones. But you have become known for making connections with pokemon and reaching an understanding that lets you learn even deeper secrets. You need to see this." Forsythia says as she turns on the TV and shows her a recorded interview

"Kidd, what do you think of the young researcher, Electra Laskaris." The Reporter asked the dark-skinned woman with black hair styled into two long and puffy 'pig tails' and held by purple hair bands. "She is the first person to climb Mount Quena without any tools. I'm not sure what drove her to do that, but I can't but feel proud that she is going to such lengths for her mission in life." Kidd Summers said as the words 'DO NOT try that feat at home' were on screen in big bold letters.

"I look forward to meeting her in the future. Even if I don't, just knowing she has a drive not unlike my own shows she can change the world even more than she has already." Kidd Summers looked right at the camera and concluded with, "Electra, wherever you are watching this, I can say without a doubt that you are my radar and I can't wait to try to unravel the mystery surrounding you." Forsythia turned the TV off.

"She called you out as her equal, Electra. I just met you today, yet I know for a fact you clearly have the spark she talked about. Take it from a gardener who has an eye for finding the perfect berry." Forsythia said with a wink.

A few days later

Sinnoh Region

Eterna City

"Thank you for finding these herbs. My old bones don't let me scale cliffs like I used to do in my youth." The elderly owner of the Herb shop said as she handed over the payment for the job Electra did. "No problem ma'am. Tia Dalma, an herbalist I learned from, had me fetch her herbs all the time. It's like my training days all over again." Electra said. The elderly lady laughed. "if only my granddaughter had the same attitude you had. It would make training her to take over so much easier." She told Electra.

A month later

Celestic Town Historical Research Center

"You have impeccable timing." Professor Carolina, the gray-haired historian and grandmother of Sinnoh's Champion Cynthia, said. "Cynthia and Kidd Summers are inside, and your input would help solve the problem." She guided Electra into a room where Cynthia and Kidd were trying and failing to solve a stone puzzle. "No one can figure it out, so I called Cynthia to try. She couldn't so she called Kidd. When Kidd couldn't, she called you. Show us your stuff." Professor Carolina said pushing her forward.

Electra stared at the most complex and nonsensical puzzle sphere she ever saw. It felt off so it had to be made by Mew, probably as prank. "What do you make of it?" Cynthia asked. "It was found in recently and has been pashed around. But the only thing anyone knows is that it's beyond old and stressfully hard to solve, if it's possible." The sphere was the size of a beachball and, as she said, so complex it was like the Gordian Knot.

"For starters, this is likely some prank made by Lady Mew because she was bored back however long ago it was. The only way to solve is you get into her head and think like she would." Electra informed them. "And what is the mindset of the Mother of All Pokemon?" Kidd asked, she had an idea but didn't say. "Extremely childish yet wise at the same time. She like doing things outside of the box." Electra says as she held the stone sphere still and pierced it with a hand covered in her 'Lightning claw' spell. To be more precise, her hand ghosted into the sphere and griped a handle hidden in a pocket space hidden with Mew's power.

"Your hand is in a hole in space." Kidd said as Electra turned the handle with a click. "Back when this made, humans, with training, could use magic. Too bad now adays, it's unlikely anyone would notice the point of the prank." Electra said. "It's a logic trap." Cynthia realized. "More you try to solve it like a puzzle, more complex it gets." Electra withdrew her hand as the sphere popped open like pokeball. Glitter exploded everywhere the next moment.

"Classic Mew prank." Electra said as all three of them and the whole room liked like a disco ball. Inside of the sphere sat a glowing stone about the size of a large marble. Professor Carolina chuckled as she surveyed the room. "I knew leaving the room was a good idea." She commented and scanned the stone and the handheld scanner broke and exploded in her hands. "This has more energy than anything I've even seen." Electra looked at the inside of the Sphere and read the message she found out loud. "Here's your stupid power source. You are a bunch of boring sticks in the mud with your nosed stuck in scrolls trying to make unlimited energy."

Kidd started laughing at this. "The scholars of that age must have wasted their lives trying to solve it. Leave it to Mew to give out the ultimate power source but not really." Kidd picked up the stone and marveled at how light it was. It hummed with power and in the back of her mind she imagined the fame she'd get if she reported it. She then dropped it into Electra's hand and said, "Hide this. Its more dangerous than all the legendries combined. We'll say that Mew left a dummy stone that exploded into all this glitter. No one will be any wiser to what really was in there."

"Princess! What happened to you?" Angelic Amber said as she popped out of Electra's bag and stared at the room. "This is Angelic Amber. A Living Doll that Papa got my big sis and then she gave her to me." Electra said using magnet magic to pull the glitter off everything. Then she shaped it into a figure of Mew blowing a raspberry. "Mew is as childish as you said she is, but you seem to be childish as well." Cynthia said amused. "Amber, put this stone with the scroll I found." Amber took the stone and ducked back into the pack, as she wasn't to be out when others were around for her safety.

"You will be credited for solving 'Mew's Impossible Puzzle Prank'. The stone and that scroll, which must be best left unknown, will never be mentioned." Kidd said. She shakes Electra's hand with a grin, adding, "I had no idea this would how we meet. Reminds me of my adventure at the Tree of Beginning with Ash Ketchum over a decade ago." Mew popped in as she did and only to say, "Sorry about the glitter bomb, Zappy!" She pauses long enough to giggle at what Electra had done with glitter. When she teleported away, Professor Carolina shook her head. "Only way to describe her as a deity is that she is chaos."

Everything clicked for Electra at that moment. As Chaos created her universe, Mew was Chaos' counterpart in this universe. That would make Arceus Order's counterpart. That was one of the pieces she needed for her research to explaining the roles of all the legendary. It wasn't quite finished, but it made things much clearer. The pieces still missing were all about the Galar Region. She couldn't wait to get there and grasp the truth.

 **Author's note: That's it for the first side chapter. This working out the details about her stand so I give you the stats later. This won't be her only journey, mainly because of her Stand's ability.**


	24. In A Skyforged Dream

**Welcome Back. I'm not going to be showing the second, third, and fourth year of teaching Zane did at Dual Academy. The first year was hard enough to write as well as it was. Electra won't be returning home until she is fifteen years old. This chapter contains spoils for: History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi, Hollow Knight, Jojo's Bizarre adventures, Pocahontas movies, Pirates of the Caribbean, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ranma 1/2,.Hack franchise, RWBY, Shokugeki no Sōma**

 **Disclaimer: I only own my stuff**

 **Chapter 23: In A Skyforged Dream**

History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi universe

Earth

Japan

Ryōzanpaku dojo

"Electra is 14 years old as of today. I wonder what she's doing." Zane said out loud drinking tea with the Masters of the dojo. Hayato Fūrinji, 'the invisible superman', also called Elder, was a mountain of man with flowing blonde hair and beard. Akisame Kōetsuji, the ever calm and collected a philosophical Jujutsu master, was a dark-haired man with weird eyebrows and a thin mustache. Apachai Hopachai, the Muay Thai 'God of Death', had bronzed skin, blueish silver hair and a gentle personality. Kensei Ma, the perverted master of all Chinese Kenpō, was a short dark-haired and mustache man in green. Shigure Kōsaka, only fame master here and knows all kinds of weapons like the back of her hand. She had dark hair in a ponytail and was rather endowed figure wise. She also so had a pet mouse named Tōchūmaru, who is also a master of weapons. And finally, there was Shio Sakaki, the infamous '100-Dan Street Brawler of Karate', a man not afraid to show off his scars and has cowlicked black hair.

"Oh, where is your daughter? Last I heard was she's off finding herself." Akisame asked. Looking embarrassed, Zane said "she was looking come home last year but the family curse struck, and she got sidetracked. It's happened to me enough times for me to figure when it happens." Elder laughed at this. "We are very grateful for that curse. Without it, you wouldn't have because our only investor and the dojo would have gone bankrupt." He said gratefully. "I have too much money for my clan to ever run out of and it's still increasing by the year." Zane said. He wasn't exaggerating. The Laskaris Clan coffers were overflowing, letting price ventures be possible. Their curse made sure they'd find more income in some crazy way.

"You are that best rich person ever. Not the tiniest bit of snobbishness in you." Sakaki said, draining a beer, tossing it on the pile behind him and grabbing another. Yes, he was a drunkard and you did not want to be around him when he's drunk. "I never wanted to be rich!" Zane said annoyed. It's just been like that for my clan since forever. I didn't live in castle or anything like that until I was like 15 or so. I had a higher end middle class home that was so nice to live in." Zane said remembering his old home.

"What happened to it?" Kenichi Shirahama, the dojo's only disciple, asked. He was in high school and had 'fluffy' brown hair. Miu, Elder's beautiful blonde-haired granddaughter, had told Zane that one time. Kenichi and Miu had just gotten out of school for the day. "You know how I come from an alternate dimension?" Zane asked. The Dojo had policy about secrets and Zane trusted them not to blab to just anyone. "Yeah, you got here via a gate shaped like a book." Kenichi said nodding. "Well, my earth is gone. There is new 'earths' but they aren't Earth Prime." Zane said.

They were silent and staring at him shocked. "Did I forget to tell you guys?" he asked the masters. "I don't think that topic ever came up." Kensei Ma said carefully. "Well it happened a long time ago and I was lucky enough that my clan's curse, along with a little help, sent me into the future." Zane said, standing up and dusting himself off. "I'll be in the yard doing some training if you need me." He said stepping outside. All of them follow him to see what style he practiced, the masters and Miu knew he was a fighter, but they had no idea how he fought.

They watched as he took off his jacket, undershirt, and socks, leaving him in only his surprisingly flexible leather riding pants. Miu gasped at the scares on his body. Most were tiny and almost invisible, but the twin scars over his heart cut her deeply. "How did he get that and live?" She asked her grandfather. "He refused to die. I don't know who he fought or why but based on the implement scars, it was blade that did it." Elder said, watching as active a cube that turned into a copy of himself.

"Double edged blade that tapered to a point." Shigure stated in her halting speech pattern. "rough edges show Zane grabbed the weapon or the arm holding it to get in counterattack." She added noticing the finer details. "Sounds about right. He didn't waste an opportunity to get in a good hit." Sakaki said as Zane got into a stance. "Is that a boxing stance?" Kenichi asked. "Close. It's an older fighting style called Pankration. Boxing, wrestling, and some other elements from modern styles. Back in the days of Ancient Greece, it was also the name of an event that had few if any rules." Akisame explained as they were hit by blasts of wind as Zane clashed with what seemed to be a sparing bot to them.

"He's not going all out. Is it because it's dangerous for him? No, He doesn't want to destroy the area." Elder mused as he read the fight. After ten minutes, Zane switched to his spear and the 'sparring bot' turned into likeness of Cú Chulainn, complete with a crimson spear. "That's the Gáe Bulg, a spear that strikes the heart before the thrust is made, or at least an imitation of it." Shigure stated. "Zane's spear is dangerous."

"He seems to have a number of ways to deal with enemies." Kenichi said as they watched Zane fight. "He fights with rage, yet he is in total control of it." Elder muttered. "And he is aware of his surrounding, somehow. He's not using 'THAT', so what's his secret?"

An hour later

"That was a good work out." Zane said, planting his spear into the ground and leaned on it. "Apachai thinks you were amazing!" Apachai said. "So, you are master of one of the oldest fighting styles?" Kensai Ma asked. "I may have mastered the original style but that hasn't stopped me from adding my touches to it. Besides, mastering something doesn't mean your training is done! It's just the beginning!" Zane said. "You must refine that style to higher heights." His passionate words got the masters smirking knowingly and Kenichi to nod at these words of wisdom.

"And no, I will not be teaching you. My training is for those who have a healing factor that will let them survive long enough to make use of the training." Zane said. "And what kind of training is that?" Miu asked. "Well, one of my teachers strapped meat to my body and had me run a trap filled path with dogs nipping at my heels." Zane said. Kenichi felt a chill as some of the masters wondered if it was a viable training method. "Then when I ran into his teacher years later, she chased me down hallways full of landmines with a spear and intent to make me bleed." Zane added as Kenichi was pale as a ghost.

"I can see why your training is not safe." Kenichi said shakily. "Too dangerous for reliable results." Elder said. "might work for you but Kenichi isn't as durable as you yet. What were the teachers?" Zane smirked and said. "Why, Cú Chulainn and his teacher, Scáthach, of course." Shigure, who was very interested in the spear, asked "Who made that weapon?" Zane pulled the spear out, it's edge eternally sharp, and let her look it over. "That is the Pure Nail (spear). It was made by a race of bugs, who name all their 'perfect' weapons 'Pure Nail'. In fact, all of their weapons seem to be called 'Nails'. Those that make them are 'Nail Smiths' and those that master using them 'Nail Masters'." Zane explained.

"it's beautiful and has taken a life." Shigure stated. The master of the dojo preferred not to kill but Zane was just an investor and not a member of the dojo, so they took it in stride. "My Universe can get so deadly at sparing some enemies is a fatal mistake. I have good judgment because my years of combat. Sometimes you just need to break a few bones to deal with a threat or…" He pauses wiping out the shovel 'sword' with fairy script on handle that meant 'THE ANSWER' "burying them six feet under. Whatever way works best." He said cheer fully.

"Is that for dealing with boys that want to date your daughters?" Sakaki joked. "Oh, THE ANSWER has dealt with more than just potential boyfriends, that turned out to be bad. I used it to knock sense into brainwash cult members that happened to be students that I taught at a high school of sorts for four years. One good hit to the head and they were free of the 'Light of Destruction's' influence." Zane said proudly. "It's called 'THE ANSWER'. Why that name?" Miu asked. "Because it's the answer to some problems, not all but still a useful Fae weapon to have." Zane said and everyone back up a little. "Oh, come up. It's not like I'm going to hit any of you." Zane said in a mock hurt tone, putting the Fae weapon.

"I almost forgot why I came here in the first place." Zane said, summoning Phil and jumping to the storage space. "This is so crazy." Kenichi said as Zane surfaced with multiple metal cases. Zane dismissed Phil and sorted the cases. "The cases here are the yearly donation, don't spend it all on booze." Zane said pointing to the pile of a dozen cases. The last bit was directed at Sakaki. "What about the last two cases?" Miu asked. Zane smiled and set them on the porch. He flipped them open to reveal knives and other metal kitchen tools. "I noticed you were using knives that were not the best. So, I made you kitchen tools that will last you for a hundred years, at least." Zane said

"You made these?" Shigure asked as she dropped a hair in the edge of a knife, and it was split length wise. "I made those with my own hands. If she is half the cook her Grandfather makes her out to be, she will be making full use of the tools. They are free of charge, think of it as an early birthday gift." Zane said. "These are the most amazing set of cooking knives I've seen in a long time. They lack any decoration other than the maker's mark, but the blades have a beauty to them." Elder said looking at a cleaver blade that almost sung as he did a few test swings in the air.

"By the way, do you know anything about a bunch of entitled punks in a gang with a Norse theme to them? Some moron wearing a glove said he was Berserker the 'Second Fist of Ragnarok'. He tried to fight me, but I put him through a wall. Kids these days are so eager to pick fights they can't win." Zane said. "They are a gang that are causing trouble around town and are after Kenichi because he beat some of their members." Sakakai said. "It's best let our disciple handle them, it's his problem." Zane nodded. "That's fair. It was nice meeting you again." Zane snaps his figure and he had all his cloths back up and spear in hand, in an instant.

"Feel free to drop by anytime." Elder said as Zane vanished into a portal.

An few days later

Zane's universe

Stand Earth

Naples, Italy

"So, the last time you saw her was over a year ago, just after she finished the stand training you gave her? I didn't even know he awakened her stand yet." Zane asked Giorno, Mista, and a turtle with a key in its shell that was possessed by Jean Pierre Polnareff, the Frenchman that helped kill Dio, as they ate at a café. "Yes. Jace, the jackalope that is a part of her stand, sent her somewhere after she requested 'Take me where I am needed'. We have no idea where she is, given the nature of her stand." Mista said annoyed. "And what is her stand?" Zane asked.

"It's a Sentient Stand that consists of a stone gate and a jackalope gate keeper. From what she figured out. It will take you anywhere randomly. It also works on anything else really. Throw some mook or say, a bomb you don't have time to defuse, into it and the gate will spit them out elsewhere." Polnareff said, his voice coming from the turtle was so weird. "Keywords can be used to narrow down the exit location but it's still random." Zane sighed. "Should have known she'd get a stand like that. Joestar clan get Stands that can cave your face in with their fists and Laskaris Clan gets Stands that are creative with solving the user's wish." Zane said.

"Please elaborate." Giorno asked, interested in this topic. "My Stand was born of my desire not to miss details around me, again." Zane said. "Electra's Stand seems to be based on her desire not to be in the family's shadow." They paused as the waiter brought a cart with five slices of cake. "Your family's shadow?" Mista asked. "Her mother, older sister, and I cast a long shadow of achievements. She was born into that and hated it. She loves us but at the same time, it's hard to stand out as her own person. That's why she sought out training from those that could be called 'shaman'." Zane explained.

"It explained the get up she wear sometimes." Trish, the pink haired daughter of the previous boss, said as she came back from doing her business. "She talked a lot about her family, including not blood related members. You are lucky to have a daughter who looks up to you but is willing to strike out on her own." Zane smiled at the blunt sounding compliment from Trish. "Did you know she has super crow named Trish?" Trish said with a smile.

"Trish is the name of at least two women I would prefer not to fight. You and a demon woman who is now for shooting people who annoy her. I can see why Electra would pick that name for a 'crow'." Zane said. He had an idea what creature Trish was talking about. She smirked at him as she took a seat and took her slice of cake. "Luckily they gave use five slices this time." Mista said letting his Stand, Sex Pistol (Yes that's his Stands name) eat the extra slice. It was a collection of six bullet creature numbered 1-7 but no number 4 among them.

"That's because I made them think there was five humans instead of four humans and a possessed turtle." Zane pointed out. "Got to love what a little magic can do to smooth over a meeting." Trish said. Giorno flicked a sealed letter to Zane. "She left this for you. We didn't find it until the metal panel on the ceiling, it was hidden behind, fell last week. I also have an urn of ashes that seems to be one of your clan members." He placed the small urn with elaborate designs on it on the table. Zane checked the Urn first. "This is the real deal and you are right. She was a clan member from 600 years ago, give or take a decade. Greek born but moved to Italy to marry her husband." Zane said reading the history inscribed on the urn in a way that only his clan could read.

"It was to be left with her family but if you had it, then something happened." Zane looked at the gangsters. "It was put up as payment by the owner to pay off a debt. He said it was passed down but his family, who got it after a relative died long ago." Mista reported. "Likely it was that woman's husband they were talking about." Mista said pointing to the urn. "We only took it because we knew you'd want it back."

"Thank you." Zane said. "Now to see what Electra wrote. 'I'm going with my gut and using my Stand's strongest ability. Don't know when I'll get back home. Wait for me, Papa.'" Zane chuckled at first but started laughing harder. "It wasn't the family curse that stuck without warning! It was her inviting it to take her for a journey." This was the best news he could have gotten. When a Laskaris invited the curse, thing happened a little differently. The craziness was much worse, but the reward was also greater. The problem lies in how long it would take for her to return. The last time someone pulled this, they were gone for years. "All I need to do is wait and she will return like a conquering hero!" Zane said with pride.

He paused and got up saying. "I think there's someone looking for trouble outside. They are trying and failing to break my moped with a lead pipe." Zane readied 'THE ANSWER' and step out. They heard loud cursing and a heavy thunk. Zane walked back in, cleaning blood of the shovel blade with a cloth. "The cops will think he fell and broke his nose because of how drunk he was." Zane said, sitting back down.

"That's 'THE ANSWER'? It really is a shovel 'sword', just like she described it." Giorno said, thinking back to the shovel user he 'fought' before his gangster days. "Why did you wait a year before asking us?" Trish asked. "I was preoccupied with teaching at a school of sorts. It was a four-year contracted job and they were a handful to teach but rewarding all the same. It was last week, when I got back home, that I heard the news from my wife. I had a job to do before coming here so that's why it took so long." Zane explained. Before Mista could say anything about four being bad luck, Zane added. "In the four year I taught, there was several near disasters but were dealt with."

"See! He gets it." Mista pauses then asks. "Was it because it was four years or because of your clan curse?" Zane just said, "a bit of column A and a bit of column B. It doesn't help that world has several incidents that happened because of, or related to, Shadow Magic. Things always get chaotic when Shadow Magic is involved. I bid you a good day." Zane said paying for the food and departing with the Urn.

A week later

Earth Chaos Delta (This will be explained later)

Virginia

Grandmother Willow's Grove

"You are not the first outworlder that visited me." The Willow tree with face on the trunk said. "You may look like Spirit lynx, but these old eyes can see you are related to that girl and her weird gate." Zane in his Spirit Lynx form sat in her branches. The talking tree was Grandmother Willow and someone Zane, came to for willow branches, freely given were more powerful than forcefully taken. "Then you met my daughter, Electra. How long was she here?" Zane asked. "Only an hour. She needed some of my branches. At least that's what the Jackalope said. Next thing I know, she requests the rude furball to take her where she is needed and steps into the gate." Grandmother Willow said looking up at Zane.

"Thank you for aiding my daughter. She is seeking something despite having no idea what it even is." Zane said. His ears swiveled as he heard oars hitting the water. "There is a guest coming to visit you. Likely your granddaughter." Zane said as he heard a raccoon arguing with a hummingbird. "Grandmother Willow? Are you there?" A Native American girl in her teen said as she exited her canoe. "Ah, it is you, Pocahontas. I was just talking with an old friend." Grandmother Willow said in greeting. "I've been having this same strange dream lately." Pocahontas said then explained the dream of odd white clouds and a spinning arrow. Zane knew what was happening sighed mentally. Of course, this world had to be based on the movie and not the real events.

"Interesting. Do you have any insight to what the dream means?" Grandmother Willow asked him. "I have seen the strange clouds before. They catch the wind to carry large boats, called ships, forward. Without seeing the arrow, I can't tell you much." Zane told the girl as a nosy raccoon messed with his ears. "Arrows can mean many things. What I can tell you is that it can lead you to something important."

He pinned the raccoon against Grandmother Willow's trunk with a paw, but no claws.

"Please stop messing with my ears." Zane told the critter, who froze at his light glare. "Meeko, be respectful to the spirit." Pocahontas scolded. Flit, the green hummingbird, was laughing at Meeko. "What may I call you, great spirit?" Pocahontas asked respectfully. "You may call me Zane. I'm just a keeper of secrets and teacher of knowledge." Zane said letting Meeko go. "Take me to your Tribe Shaman. I need to warn him of the visitors that may be coming to your shores. They must be dealt with like you would a wounded dog you don't know." Zane said.

"Are they dangerous?" Pocahontas asked. "They can be. But as I said, approach carefully and try to understand they have a different way of living." Zane said jumping down silently.

An hour later

Pocahontas' Village

"Daughter, who is this spirit that has followed you home?" Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas' father, asked gripping his staff warily. Spirits were best understood by his friend and advisor, Kekata the shaman. "Father, visitors are coming and the spirit, Zane, wishes to help us avoid bloodshed with them." Pocahontas told him, looking him in the eye. "Greetings Chief. I heard from your daughter of your latest victory. Sadly, the newcomers will be harder to understand." Zane said. "How so great spirit?" Chief Powhatan asked as the tribesmen watches them warily. "They came from across the sea and have culture that is different from yours." Zane said, looking at the people watching.

He took a deep breath and pinpointed the Shaman's hut. "I will talk to the only person that will get what I have to say." Zane said and padded over to the Shaman's hut.

Five hours later

Inside the Shaman's Hut

Kekata was an old man with a face framed by long gray hair. "You share much your me, spirit. But keep so much more hidden. Why is that?" Kekata asked after Zane had explained how to peaceful meet with the 'white man' visitors. "I am a teacher. I do not need to give all the answers, just the tools to help them figure out was the answer is." Zane said. Kekata's eyes widened. "You are one of the teachers that taught the visiting Shaman. She had long blue hair." Zane was interested in what Electra looked like, so he asked for more detail. Kekata threw something into the fire and an image appeared in the smoke. A blue haired figure wearing a mask and a cloak of feathers. In her hand was the staff.

"That is her. I was among the teachers who trained her." Zane said. "Was she looking for a willow tree?" Kekata nodded. "Yes. It was seasons ago. She came into the village and never said much. Her odd skin color, paler ours but not as pale as the white birch tree's bark, made the villagers wary. I knew she was a fellow Shaman, so I asked her what she needed. After she got the directions, she left. That is the last I heard of her." Kekata said respectfully.

"Thank you for sharing that. It has been many moons since I've seen her. I will be watching how you fare with this knowledge." Zane said vanishing. Kekata was puzzled by this spirit. It claimed to have seen what lays beyond the sea but never said any details. They he said the visitors could 'shoot' toxic pebbles using weapons that left holes in the body. Kekata was grateful for the knowledge to heal such injuries. He also had no idea why anyone would value yellow rocks from the earth. That was why they visitor were coming for, he called it 'gold'. But he also said they would be interested in food if it was proven to be safe to eat.

Kekata sat, deep in thought, when his friend entered his hut. "What has the spirit told, my friend?" Chief Powhatan asked, siting by the fire. "the visitors come seeking what they believe to be riches." Kekata said. "is there any way to coexist with them?" Chief Powhatan asked, worried. "Yes, we can teach them of foods they are unaware of, to show we can be peaceful. But among their tribe are snakes. These have ill intentions and hearts full of greed. Those are the ones we must be warry of." Kekata warned.

"What weapons do they use?" Chief Powhatan requested, knowing this would be important. "Long loud tubes that 'shoot' fast toxic pebbles. Zane has shared how to treat the wound that weapon leaves. They also wear stiff armor and their skin is like a white birch in color." Kekata said. Chief Powhatan sighed. "Thank you, old friend. You have found answers in troubled time." Chief Powhatan said and Kekata smiled in understanding.

A week later

Earth Chaos Delta

Virginia

The English settlement

Zane walked them digging and singing for a few days. He sniffed in distain as Governor Ratcliffe, the greedy black haired tubby of lard, slept in the fancy tent and everyone else had to make do with their standard issued tents. That twig of a manservant, Wiggins, was a skilled cook and artist but he was also a ditsy moron! Zane was impressed at that rate they made the log walls. It took the four days to do it. In that time, John Smith, the blonde liar on the real earth, but the brave explorer that would 'almost die' before peace was made, had gone off and encountered Pocahontas. He had told tubby of how the Chief of the locals was willing to meet peaceful with them at any time.

Tubby had the nastiest look on his face when he heard this. Then ranted about untrustworthiness and how they were savage murderers. Luckily, John and most of the men weren't buying it yet. They trusted John's judgment more than they did the Governor's. "So, you are the great spirit called Zane." John said as he sat near the tree Zane was watching from. "what of it?" Zane said. "Pocahontas said that you know about Europe. She didn't call it by name, but she implied it." John said.

"how would a 'spirit' know about ships, Europe and guns?" He asked. "you have no idea what Spirit Lynx are, do you?" Zane said. "We are keepers of secrets and we decide when to share those secrets, if ever." John was jotting it down. "And the reason I saw you in the camp but no one else could was?" He asked. "Spirits can choose to be seen or not." Zane said with a grin that showed off fangs. John shivered. He knew normal animals shouldn't glow or talk in English. If anything, Pocahontas had told him was truth, he was sure spirits were real as the creature he was talking to. "Finally getting how real the supernatural is? I can tell you for sure that Fae are just as real as I am. Good luck making lasting peace." Zane said vanishing from his sight.

A week later

Zane's Dream

"Thank you for smoothing that issue over." An old fisherman said to Zane. This 'fisherman' was just a mask Chaos wore to interact with lower beings. "What is with that earth?" Zane asked. "there is no mention of Christianity, God, or even Jesus." Chaos laughed. "You know the name of the world?" Chaos asked. "Earth Chaos Delta." Zane said and Chaos gestures for him to define the name. "It's the planet earth. A delta is a fertile land near rivers and sometimes a large body of water." Zane said. "Not sure where your name comes into play, but, the fact the largest religions in this world is called 'The Holy Church of Chaos', is very telling."

Chaos laughed. "This planet has been around as long as Earth Prime has. 'That' event added the Disney elements to it. I created it so far way it was never discovered until you it with you time traveling antics. This earth will never discover harmful practices like deforesting and nuclear energy. Spirits and Fae exist along with most of the other religions too. That's why it took this long for settlers to reach North America." Chaos explained. "that explains why people plant a tree after cutting one down and the harsh punishment for sport or profit hunting." Zane said.

"You scared 'Tubby' so bad, he confessed he was a greedy snake and begged the locals to protect him from the angry spirit Lynx that haunted him." Chaos said laughing. Zane had been letting only Tubby see him as he followed him around up until the two groups meeting each other for the first time officially. It only worked because he warned his men beforehand and the result was so perfect. Tubby looked like a nervous wreck by day six and was confined to the brig to 'escape the angry spirit'. It was better than killing him, because he would fear every cat he encountered from now on.

"I will make sure he never gets over his newfound fear." Chaos said. "Now on to the matter of Electra and the collecting she did." Zane paid attention to every word. "After collecting all the things, she visited the Fae to have them make something. Not going to spoil it but it was interesting to watch." Zane groaned at this. Chaos just smirked at him as he added. "She ended up somewhere interesting and hid her from your scrying methods until she returns. You'll thank me later." Chaos said as he gave the fishing pole to Zane and vanished from the dream.

"That is so like him." Zane grumbled. "Drops in my fishing dream and steals my fishing pole only to give it back after leaving me hanging." It was like talking to Lady Mew. "They are the same!" Zane said out loud. "But Lady Mew is more childish compared to Chaos. He, she, it or whatever they want to be called, is more like someone who likes to try out ideas and isn't afraid to kill the experiment to start fresh." Luckily, Chaos didn't do it often, Chaos just leaves it alone to do another project until it becomes a problem.

The rod bent as he got a bite. Reeling it in, Zane was rewarded with a large salmon. That's why he loved dreams like this, he could think and enjoy a nice seafood meal in peace. He built the fire and grilled the fish after gutting and cleaning it. He didn't question how he found the herbs and lemon in a clearing with a lake and trees that were blurred if you look far enough away. It was a dream after all.

He was reminded of how he got his ship the Crimson Hound from that sea goddess. The ship was made for her a payment from a ship maker who knew of magic and runes to a high degree. He did everything but prime the last rune with the 'blood of the captain', she insisted it was for someone she hadn't met yet but needed it one day. He remembered the day he walked into her swamp home to pick up herbs.

Flashback

Port Royal World

Tia Dalma's home

"Calypso, I'm looking for some herbs I know you have." The past Zane said as the dark hair goddess masquerading as mortal woman laughed harshly. "It is not plants that you need, but a ship of your own to cross my and other's waters." Calypso said. "That would be easer than brewing the potion that lets be undetected in water every time I want to go diving for treasure in this world but I'm picky about the ship I want." Zane pointed out. "Sora was lucky to get the magical ship he got! How many more ships made with magic incorporated from the start is there?"

Calypso smirked. "The maker of The Leviathan made another ship before his death. I know where she sleeps, dreaming as she waits for a captain to name her." She said in an accented purr that promised adventure, danger, and treasure." Whether she was Tia Dalma the voodoo mystic, or Calypso the sea goddess, she told the truth, but it had deadly hooks that could drown you. Zane sighed. "What's your price?" He asked, taking the bait. "I will tell you where to start looking for the ship, but you must swear that if any of your children desire to study my arts, you will let me teach them however I like." Calypso said grabbing his arm in a vice grip as her eyes were like a stormy sea.

Zane felt her aura of power as he swore the oath. He winced as the arm she gripped was branded with cryptic pictures. "Decipher those markings and the ship is yours for the taking. There is no time limit and if you find the ship, the markings will disappear." Calypso said as the aura was gone, and her eyes weren't stormy anymore. She let go of his arm as he looked it over. "Does it always sting when you brand a map on to someone with godly power?" Zane asked. "For most it's untold agony. You are lucky to handle pain so well." She says with a sadistic laugh. The sea can be downright nasty was scorned.

"It's good to know that you aren't angry with me." Zane said dryly. "You broke Poseidon's Trident last week and removed the curse of Flying Dutchman, along with every other sea related curse. I'm annoyed with you but not angry." Calypso commented dryly. "You would too if you held it and felt the sheer amount of bad juju contained within it along the control all sea life other than gods like you." Zane told her. "And the mermaids will never try to eat you for that very reason. Will Turner willing continuing his job, with more breaks on shore, is the only reason I don't kill you where you stand." Calypso said with a finger jab that sent him tumbling into the swamp outside of her home.

Zane surfaced with algae hanging off his body. "I hope you treat your students better than that." He says as he swam way followed by her laughter.

A few months later (still in the flashback)

An undersea island

It took him months to decode and follow the tattoo map and it led him right to an undersea island surrounded by man eating mermaids. Zane was so glad he was not on the menu. He entered the hidden air chamber and marveled at the ship that lay before him. He boarded it and coughed as years of dust was kicked up with each step. He found the ship's wheel and noted a rune that wasn't dark red like the rest of them. "It's not primed. That's why the runes are visible." Zane muttered to himself as he cut his hand and squeezed out blooded over the rune.

"Name me." A female voice echoed in his head. It had no texture to it, but his instincts said it was female and belonged to the ship. "You will be known as the Crimson Hound from this day forth!" Zane declared and the ship came alive as the runes glowed, blasting away the dust and grime. The figure head, flags and sails also changed into what Zane imagined his ship would look like. Zane felt a connection to the ship as the runes mostly hidden themselves.

"I will take good care of you." Zane tells the ship, patting the wheel.

Flashback end

Zane's dream

"And you did. No matter the storm I carried you and the crew watching each other's backs." A woman said as she appeared in his dream. She had a dangerous but welcoming feel about her as her blood red hair, styled to be feathered, shifted with each step. She wore a simple dress, that she shifted to sit next to him. "You have shown me seas I never imagined in my long years of dreaming, nameless and alone." The spirit of the Crimson Hound said in a voice that had an accent to it that reminded him of a dragon, cultured but with a rumbling of power to it. She was a Klabautermann, a water spirit that was the 'soul' of a ship that's well cared for. Oddly enough she looked nothing like what most of her kind did, small kobolds that have their futures hidden from view.

"Off course I'm different from my kin!" the Klabautermann said annoyed, reading his mind. "I've been exposed to your craziness for years." She was right, the Laskaris Clan didn't do things by half. "What brings you to my dream?" Zane asked. "I'm worried about Electra. She's there but she feels cut off." She said. "That'd be Chaos hiding her from being found before she returns." Zane explained. The Klabautermann said some very rude things about Chaos and what kinds of pain she'd love to inflict for hiding one of her beloved crewmates from her. "I blame the demigod kids for you picking up at least half the words you just said." Zane told her.

A few days later

TMNT Earth

New York City

A dinner

Zane watched as a reporter on Channel Six News on this version of earth, was talking about how last years claims of a 'bird' that made the super storm that traveled from the west coast to the east coast was not true. Nor were the reports of 'human sized ninja turtles' or the 'giant rat that wore clothes' that everyone heard over the years. Zane rolled his eyes at this. She could tell a lie good enough to fool the people but not him. "The Foot Clan is in fact real." The reporter said on the TV. This caught Zane's attention. "The Foot Clan is a sect of criminals who have been committing crimes undetected for many years now. "Little in known about their methods or their numbers but what is known is their the few members in jail, who escaped shortly after being integrated, swear that their leader, The Shredder, will rule the city." she reports shuffling her papers. "Who or what this leader looks like is unknown, but sources believe they share an Eastern Asian theme based on the 'ninja' theme the captured members had."

Zane heard a manhole slam down over the din of the dinner's conversions. It had happened after a man bundled up in a trench coat and hat left. He had ordered a salad and ate it with some protest, annoyed that they didn't serve pizza here. Zane checked the time, 8:39 PM. Something was going on and He would get to the bottom of it. He left a tip and headed out.

An hour later

TMNT Earth

New York City

The back alleys

Zane smirked inwardly as thugs with a purple eastern dragon tattooed on their arms 'cornered' him. They had mostly random weapons, metal and wooden bats, lead pipes, big wrenches, chains, and not a single gun on their person. "This part of town is the Purple Dragons' turf." The leader of the thugs, based on how much better dress he was, said. "You need to pay a toll." Zane noted how the Cueball seemed to believe he was in control of the encounter.

"I am aware, and I am looking for information your boss might have." Zane said, "Tell me where to find him and you won't be in pain." Zane laid out their option. They started to attack as he sighed and muttered, "the painful way it is."

Five minutes later

"So where is your boss?" Zane asked the Cueball, who was the only one not in pain and unable to think. His cellphone rang and the caller ID said 'Hun'. Cueball answered the phone. "Boss, there's someone that wants to talk to you." Cueball passed the phone to Zane. "Is this the boss of the Purple Dragons?" Zane asked. "Who's asking?" a gruff voice said. "Someone that is looking for information on the 'Thunder Bird' storm." Zane said. Hun was silent. "Is it lacking information or someone you are afraid of that holds your tongue?" Zane asked.

"You'd have better luck asking the Shredder or those damn turtles about that. I wasn't in town when she attacked the Purple Dragons. That bird rained lightning on them from the clouds and then she vanished. That's all I know." Hun told Zane. "Thank you for that information. I will leave a tip with your men." Zane hung up the phone and placed a case of American dollars in Cueball's hands. "Make sure Hun gets the full ten grand or I will find you." Zane said and Cueball nodded with fear of Zane and Hun.

A few days later

TMNT Earth

New York City

The Docks

"Why have you been attacking the Foot Clan?" The Shredder, a man in intimidating Japanese armor, growled as the Foot Clan members 'cornered' Zane in a warehouse. They had guns, swords, knives, and other weapons. "I only did that because they refused to give me the information I wanted. Why is it so hard for them to tell me about the Thunder Bird that visited this city?" Zane said that the tension reached new heights.

"That bird masquerading as a human took something from us and claimed she had better use for it." The Shredder said as his adopted daughter, Karai, showed Zane a video of Electra attacking the Foot Clan and leaving with a fist sized jewel. Karai returned to the Shredder's side. "She has been called the Thunder Shaman. She came to me to learn the art years ago and I trained her as much as I knew. I have no idea want she is doing other than collecting things for the Fae to make something for her." Zane said in half truths.

Karai, who was oriental with short black hair and wore Japanese armor (Foot Clan symbol proudly in red on front), drew the twin swords he carried and cross them over Zane's neck. "I hope you aren't lying, or she will liberate your head from your neck." The Shredder stated. "I will not kill you for being her teacher but that doesn't mean you will be unharmed. Deal with him." The Shredder ordered Karai. She sheaved her swords and impaled him through the stomach with a knife with the symbol hanging off the hilt. Zane fell as blood leaked from the wound. "Let this be a lesson not to mess with the Foot Clan." The Shredder said as the Foot Clan departed.

"Raph! Keep him still! I'll stop the bleeding!" a commanding voice said as anthropomorphic turtles came from the shadows. They had different colored headband masks on. "Are they gone?" Zane asked, spiting out blood as he sat up. "Dude! You have a dagger to your stomach! You shouldn't be moving." The turtle with an orange mask said with an easy-going voice. "It will take more than a dagger to kill me." Zane said tugging on the weapon in his gut, lightly. "It's made to hurt." Zane winced. The blade had hooks on it like a bee's stinger.

"Don't pull it out! That will rip you open even more!" the purple masked turtle said in a knowledgeable voice. "Then what can he do, Leo! He's bleeding out and he's seen us!" The red masked turtle said, clearly very angry. The blue masked turtle, the first one Zane heard talking, made a choice. "Raph, help him up. Donney, help Raph carry him back to the lair." Leo, the blue one, said as Raph, the red one, and Donney, the purple one, sling one of Zane's arms over their shoulders. "Mikey, go tell Master Splitter what happened." Leo said to the Mikey, the orange one, who ran off and Zane heard the scrapping of a manhole cover being moved.

"Which one of you were at the dinner a few days ago?" Zane asked. "That was me." Raph said, knowing if he kept Zane talking, he wouldn't pass out and maybe die. "I sometimes need to get away from my brothers and that dinner has some good food, even if it isn't pizza." By now they reached the open manhole.

Ten minutes later

Somewhere in the sewers

The Turtles' Lair

"Set him here." A human sized rat in red robe carrying a staff said as Zane was set on a medical slab. "This blade was made to tear the flesh painfully when removed." He said, "A weapon of torture and suffering." He sounded wise and tired. "Master Splinter, is there anyway to remove it safely?" Leo asked. "Nope. I know my blades and this one is made to hurt a lot." Zane said as he ripped the weapon out in a spray of blood. It hurt but not as bad as the worst wounds he got. Master Splinter stopped the turtles from going to Zane as he watched the wound heal quickly. "It is good to meet Electra father, even if it's like this." Master Splinter said. He then introduced his adopted children. Leo was Leonardo, Donny was Donatello, Raph was Raphael, and Mikey was Michelangelo.

"You mean to tell me that you could have pulled that out at any time?" Raph said getting angry at Zane. "We had to stop your blood from leaving a trail to the lair!" Raph was really getting into it, when Zane said. "If you wish to fight me, then just ask." Raph was more than happy to ask. The fight lasted one move from Zane. Just one kick and Raph was thrown into a wall. "You need to control and channel your anger properly or it will bring you ruin and death." Zane lectured as Raph winced as his body protested him getting up. "You are as much a master of your wrath as she told me." Master Splitter said, expecting this result.

"This is the weirdest blood I've ever seen." Donny said as he analyzed Zane's shed blood. "Electra's blood was odd, but Zane's is partially digital, somehow." He said, typing away at his supercomputer. "Who cares about that! He sent Raph flying without even trying!" Mikey said. "It was like fighting the final boss of a game early on in an unwinnable fight." Leo was thoughtful. "That analogy fits well. Zane is out of our league but Raph still challenged him and lived. If it was a video game, the defeated hero would use the loss to get stronger then beat the boss later." Leo said, getting what Mikey's train of thought was. It made even more sense when he looked at what was said.

"Do you have any idea why she stole this gem?" Leo said showing Zane a 3D printed replica of the gem Electra stole. It was a blood red spherical faceted gem that was larger than an average man's fist. Zane's blood ran cold as he paled. "Titania's Favor, a cursed fae item that has killed thousands." Zane said, not daring to take the replica. "How did this gem come to be and how has it killed so many?" Master Splitter asked gravely. "I only that over three thousand years ago a human was given a clear gem by the Fae Queen, who was quite scorned by something he said. She told him he had a year and a day to get it to the realm of the Fae and he'd get a wish." Zane said.

"And if he fails, he will die." Donny guessed. "you said it was clear, but the gem we saw was a deep red like blood." Donny looked ill as he realized the answer. "With each person killed by the gem or by some other means before the time was up, it grew darker red until it became what it is today." Zane said with disgust for the gem. "and what's the limitations of the wish?" Mikey asked. "Depends on how much lifeforce it absorbed before it gets returned. It socks up the remaining lifeforce of each owner as they die. Almost as bad as the Monkey's Paw when it comes to wish granting. At this point, Electra could wish for almost anything that doesn't break the rules of Life and Death." Zane explained.

"The Fae are as dangerous as you said they are, Master Splitter." Raph said, munching a slice of pizza while he sat on the couch. "I'd rather fight the Shredder alone and no weapons than face someone like that." He commented as Zane felt the Fae Queen's mark grow hot on his finger. She had heard and, based on the felling of amusement he felt, found it funny. "I wouldn't run your mouth because she's listening right now." Zane warned. "My dear favored human. You need to watch out for fake Shredders." Lady Titania whispered in his mind, revealing that the Shredder he met was just a robot someone used to make it seem like the Shredder, but not the TRUE Shredder, was still alive.

"I really hate it when the bad guy sends a body double." Zane grumbled as he melted the bloody dagger to nothingness. "Can't leave things like this lying around." Zane said as he used a minor curse on the one who stabbed him with a week of digestive issues. "That will wrap things up here. Thanks for telling me about Electra." Zane said as he teleported out of the lair, leaving them confused. "I really hate when people do that." Raph said annoyed.

A month later

Ranma 1/2 universe

Nerima-ku, Japan

Dr. Tofu's Clinic

"Welcome to my clinic. I am Doctor Tofu Ono I do chiropractic (relates to bones), acupuncture (uses needles on pressure points to heal the body), and moxibustion (traditional Chinese medicines), if that's what kind of problem you have." A cheerful dark-haired doctor said as he cleaned his glasses. "I'm looking for someone by the name of Genma Saotome." Zane ground out. The Laskaris had tracked his path of chaos all over this world, returning the things he stole and other issues for years now. Genma had always escaped the pursuers Zane sent. After the latest intel that was uncovered, Zane had enough. He had made his son agree to a senpaku (honorable suicide) contract as a child and then used a forbidden training method on his own blood. Zane was on the hunt and the fool was not escaping him.

"are you a debt collector or something?" Dr. Tofu asked. "something like that. Genma has been avoiding my people for some years now and we are fed up with that." Zane said with an aura of malice about him. "He's staying at the Tendo Dojo with his son, Ranma. Did you know they fell into the cursed springs of Jusenkyo?" Dr. Tofu asked. "I am aware. I had to prevent some kid from falling in only to end up in France because of his curse of getting lost. It took a while to figure out where Genma disappeared to by the time I got back to the valley in China." Zane said with a deadpan.

Five minutes later

Tendo Dojo

"Soun, there is someone after us. I felt his killer intent at Jusenkyo." Genma, an overweight but still fit bald man wearing a white gi, bandanna on his head, and glasses, said as he felt a chill down his spine. His friend Soun Tendo, a mustached black-haired middle-aged man in a mild colored gi, arched his brow. "are you sure?" He asked. "it could have been some animal you sensed. I heard there are larger animals that are quite angry at humans." Soun stated. "I believe it's linked with those red robed weirdos I've avoided for years."

"Oh! I sure it's their leader." Nabiki, Soun's middle daughter said with a smile. She was aware who was chasing Genma and could wait to get paid for tipping them off where Genma was. Genma tried to bolt outside and over the dojo wall but was repelled into the pond as tags on the perimeter walls glowed. A giant panda surfaced, his cursed form because he fell in the Spring of Drown Panda, started talking with a sign. "What the hell! You sold me out!" Gemna sign talked. Ranma, a black-haired teen wearing a red shirt, ran into the same barrier as he tried to leave for school, Genma was making him go, and landed a few feet back. "Why the hell am I stopped! It's Pops they're after!" Ranma yelled as Akane, Soun's youngest daughter, walked through without problem.

"I believe it's blood based." Kasumi, Soun's eldest daughter, said as she fixed her long hair, her sisters kept their black hair short. "Ranma is related to Genma so a wall that is meant to trap him would likely affect Ranma too." She guessed. "Indeed, that is the case." Zane said as he walked into view. "No one is going anywhere." He said as he herded Akane back into the house with a look. "Sit." He said and everyone did so as Genma wilted in terror at the malice directed at him. "Here's your reward for the good tip." Zane said passing Nabiki a suitcase of local cash. She happily opened it and started counting the money. Genma was sign begging, trying to say he was just a 'harmless panda'.

"You have caused a lot chaos and not the good kind." Zane said, glaring. "I am dissolving all contracts you ever made for someone without their permission." Zane said, using his power as deal making (digital) demon lord. "You can't do that! The houses must be joined!" Soun yelled but went 'EEP!' as the glare was turned to him. "Go ahead! We can find another way to join the houses other than marriage!" Soun said with his fear-stricken face pressed into the floor.

"So, how does that work?" Ranma asked. "All deals or contracts Genma made for someone without telling them the full detail is rendered null and void. Any deals you made without being tricked are still in effect." Zane explained. "So that amazon is still going to try to kill me?" Ranma asked. Zane blinked. "The only that would happen is if you were female." Zane said then deadpanned "You fell into the Spring of Drowned Female, didn't you?" Ranma was splashed with cold water out of nowhere and turned into a red haired, slightly shorter, curvy female. "Lovely. Not only do you have 'that' training and its aftereffects, but you also have the Kiss of Death on you." He sighed.

"Look, if you beat her as a man you will get the Kiss of Marriage. It is the only way to reseed the previous Kiss other than killing her and incur the rest of the Amazons' wrath. I know the rules of the Amazon tribe quite well." Zane said, leaving out the words 'of this universe'. Ranma looked annoyed but (S)he said. "I can work with that. All I need to do is wait for Shampoo to show up and beat her." Zane got a cup of water, boiled it with magic and poured it on Ranma, returning him to being male.

"neat trick. How does it work?" He asked Zane, while wincing at the hot water. "basic heating spell. Anyone with magic can do it, not sure if you can do magic." Zane answered as he threw water, just under evaporating temperature, at Genma, making him howl in pain as he returns to normal. "Are you trying to kill me!" Genma demanded as his face burned from the hot water. "You have it coming and then some. The Laskaris Clan has been fixing the problems you cause for years now and we are not happy." Zane stated.

"Genma! You pissed off the Laskaris Clan! What were you thinking! They are worse than 'HIM' easily!" Soun yelled shaking Genma. "Aren't you one of the oldest clans still following the traditions from its founding years at a large scale?" Akane asked, remembering it from a history lesson she had recently. "That's right." Zane said as he scanned Ranma and cursed when he saw what was displayed on the magical scanner. "I can't do a thing about the water curse, not surprising, but I need to call in a being of chaos to help remove the spirit of the cats' grudge. It's the secret to the 'Cat Fist' training." Zane explained how the collective hate for the teacher who throws the meat wrapped disciple, and the starving cats, into the pit possesses the subject of the training and that's how 'Cat Fist' works. (It's my interpretation of how it works.)

Everyone glares at Genma as Zane takes out a music box and winds it. A pleasant melody played then Mew, the pick floating kitty of chaos herself, appeared in the dojo, sitting on one of her pink bouncy bubbles. "Help Music man! How can the Amazing Mew help you today?" She cheerfully asked telepathically as Ranma's fear of cats acted up. Mew stopped him from panicking by basically dampening his brain's fear response. "Nasty nasty. Who invented such a not fun training method?" Mew said with a hurt tone as she pulled an orb of grudge energy, think a black oily looking energy with veins of red on it, out of Ranma with ease.

"That's the grudge?" Soun asked, looking a at the odd being of chaos that looked adorable as she shaped the orb like it was putty or clay. It was changing color to a cream, black, and blue mix. "Lady Mew, what are you doing?" Zane asked as Mew shaped the orb into a creature that looked like a Nekomata, a cat youkai with two tails. "Making him a protector. The nasty Panda man is clearly a bad parent." Mew said matter of factually. The finished creature was the size of a house cat with a blue cost of fur adorned with white tiger strips and its tails had black tips that spawned ghostly orbs, which hovered about its body.

"Tada!" Mew said with pride as the 'cat' napped in Ranma's lap. "The fear is gone or are you still messing with my brain?" Ranma asked as he looked at the 'cat' with the oddest feeling he had seen this cat before. "Her name is Grudge and will protect you from anything you can't handle." Mew said cheerfully. "The only reason you had that fear of cats is because of the icky curse wanting to kill the Panda man, using you. I could fix your other curse, but I won't!" She tells them as she returned to her home.

"She sounds like handful." Soun said. as Ranma hesitantly started petting Grudge, betting loud purr from the sleeping creature. Zane snapped his fingers and the tags incinerated themselves harmlessly. "Please stay, you need to explain to the people after Ranma about his new pet." Kasumi requested. "We have plenty of guest rooms you can use." Zane had a counteroffer. "Only if you answer a question I have. Are you aware that Dr. Tofu is in love with you?" Zane asked. She blushed. "I know but he's over five years older than me. I'm sure he has better woman closer to his age to marry." She said looking away. "As someone who is older than my wife, age isn't always a problem. Go on a date or something with him and test the waters. If it doesn't click between you then let him know how you feel." Zane advised.

Grudge yawned, showing of larger than normal fangs. Grudge's eyes were a sinister red that scanned the room before falling on Genma. With a rageful roar and flash of ghostly flames, the 'house cat' became a car sized beast that looked more like a tiger but retain the design of the 'house cat' form. Genma fled as Grudge, who turned out to be female, roared in Japanese, "Get back here you scum!". She tore after Genma, out the door and into the streets. "I like her." Zane comments as Ranma was smirking vindictively.

A week later

Ranma 1/2 universe

Nerima-ku, Japan

Tendo Dojo

Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma's eternally lost rival, finally made it here. He was the one Zane saved from falling to the cursed springs. "So, it's Genma's fault Ramna wasn't there for our duel years ago?" Ryoga asked as Zane checked how heavy the gear Ryoga carried was. The umbrella only was heavy enough shattered concrete when thrust like a polearm. Even the bandanas, he carried dozens of them in a pack that was also weighted, were like metal projectiles. This kid was strong. "Pops was behind a lot of events in my life. After I deal with an issue, we can have that duel." Ranma stated. Grudge returned from her weeklong chase with a bandaged like a mummy, Genma, hanging from her jaws. He deposited him at Ranma's feet like a cat does a mouse or bird.

She returned to her 'house cat' form and said. "I got him. He can run but I can find him no matter where he runs." Grudge was proud of herself. She delivered the same injuries Ranma got from the 'cat fist' training down to the last cut. She dragged him to Dr. Tofu before getting back here because him dying would be a mercy. Ranma gave her a juicy fish from the kitchen as a reward. "You are the best, little kitten." Grudge said and going off to eat the fish in private.

"why did that weird cat drop Genma like a fresh kill?" Ryoga asked. He had seen some weird stuff in his lost traveling. "That was Grudge, a protector/pet that really hates Pops for what he did to me. She is the best gift I got so far, even if that cat of chaos refused to deal with the Jusenkyo curse." Ranma said.

An hour later

Tendo Dojo

Grudge sat before Ranma with a young Siamese cat dangling from her mouth by the scruff of the neck. "This kitten wants to say something to you. Her name is ShanPu." Grudge said, the name being said in Chinese. "Is that you Shampoo? Did you fall into a cursed spring too? The cat meowed mournfully. "She says it happened during a punishment duel because your gender issue. You are also to wed her because Zane told them about your curse affecting your gender." Grudge translated for Shampoo. "I was meaning to find you to clear that issue up." Ranma said blushing a little. "You are a beautiful girl and strong too. I'm willing to see if this will work out."

"Wonderful news, Son-in-Law!" A tiny old woman with very long white hair, pogo-sticking on a long staff said as she landed in the room. "I don't remember you, but you must be from the Chinese Amazon tribe, right?" Ranma asked. She jumps off her staff introduced herself. "You may call me Cologne. And I am your great Grandmother-in-law when you marry. The one you know as Shampoo." She looks at Grudge intently. "A creature of malice and chaos with a connection to you. How odd." Ranma explained what happened and she nodded gravely.

"I knew that panda was a fool but not that foolish. Zane made the right call." She stated. "How do you know Zane? He knows your rules front to back and even sideways." Ranma asked. Zane had couched him on the culture he was now a part of for the last week. "He came to us over century ago and sold us beauty products in exchange for learning the rules of the tribe. The anti-wrinkle one is still working to this day." She points to her wrinkle free face. "We tried to get him to marry but his patron goddess made an appearance. He's off the market, as you youngsters say, and his wife is a deadly warrior. So, we relented and are on friendly terms with him instead."

She coughs into her fist and says, "As a male marrying into the tribe, it falls upon me to train you in our techniques." She pauses and adds "I might even train your rival a little to make it fair when you fight him. He might even marry one of the tribe's members, if we're lucky." She said, already scheming to use Ryoga to push Ranma's training to new heights and strengthen the tribe. "I know you are using him, fossil." Grudge said as she started grooming Shampoo, who tried escape but was pined with a paw. "But it is useful for the kitten to grown." She looks at Shampoo and stated, "If this kitten is my kitten's mate then that makes her my kitten as well."

Cologne laughed a little at Shampoo's predicament. "My granddaughter does need a good cleaning after shipping herself in that dusty box. Maybe you can teach her to fight in her cursed form. Think of it as a way for her to stay safe and Ranma stays happy." Grudge glared but went back to grooming Shampoo, who was meowing resigned. "Oh hush! Your fur is messy and out place. No one ever taught you to groom yourself right." Grudge scolded her. "I wonder how I missed Ryoga disappearing?" Ranma wondered. "His curse is a strong one and strikes at random moments. He vanished not moments after I mentioned training him. One moment he was listening, next he was gone along with everything he had save for that bandana." Cologne said pointing out the bandana on the floor.

A few days later

Ranma 1/2 universe

Nerima-ku, Japan

Cat Café

Shampoo, who was a long dark blue haired girl around Ranma's age, set a giant steaming bowl of ramen before Zane. "One extra-large Cat Ramen special, honored one." She said bowing before returning to the kitchen where her father was cooking. The Chinese Amazons had set up a café near the dojo to be closer to where Ranma was living and make a little profit on the side. "How dare you let her marry!" Mousse, a male amazon and childhood friend of Shampoo, yelled as he sent weapons on chains from his sleeves at Zane. Zane threw cold water form his glass and turned the attacker from a human with long black hair and thick glasses, to a white duck wearing thick glasses.

"At least you remembered your glasses, Duck Boy." Zane said as the weapons missed him and his food. When Cologne came to see what was going on, Mousse made himself scarce. "I hope he wasn't disturbing you. He had his heart set on wedding Shampoo but never was skilled enough to impress her." The old woman said shaking her head. "I'm sure Ranma will a husband you will be proud to have marry her." Zane said, picking up his chopsticks.

"Did you say Ranma?" A female customer, with brown hair in her early forties at the latest, asked. "Are you married to a man named Genma?" Zane asked getting a good look at her. "Yes, I am Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother. My husband stopped sending me letters weeks ago and I knew he was friends with the Tendos." Nodoka said very worried, especially when the senpaku contract Genma had signed burned to ash before her very eyes out of nowhere. "Ranma agreed to a contest that resulted in him being wed to my great granddaughter, the waitress that served you." Cologne stated. "You didn't mention the fact Genma got the both of them cursed, and Shampoo cursed." Zane said amused.

"Did Genma cause the young man to turn into a duck?" Nodoka asked. "No, he didn't have his glasses on and walked right into the cursed spring on his own." Cologne said embarrassed. "I complied a detailed list of what Genma did. Feel free to read it." Zane said hand her a thick folder. She got angrier farther she read. Zane didn't flinch as the other customers moved away from her visible aura of dread. "I'll be back." Nodoka stated and stomped out with a sheathed blade in hand, gripped so hard her knuckles were white. "a gold bar that she still loves him but is not going to let him pull any more crap like that again." Zane bet.

"Sucker's bet. I researched Ranma's family and found her to be too much in love with the panda to divorce him." Cologne countered. "I bet five gold bars Grudge will like her on sight." Zane laughed. "Deal." He agreed. Ten minutes later he would be handing over five gold bars to her, but he did mind.

A few weeks later

The World

Delta Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground

Hulle Granz Cathedral

"What can you tell me about the Epitaph of Twilight?" Ovan, a man with short blue hair, glasses, and wearing armor that was mostly shades of blue, asked as he sat down on the pew next to Zane, who's features were complete hidden in a black robe with a hood up. "It is the 'inspiration' of the eight phases, you could say." Zane said cryptically. Ovan was a 'player' of the Steam Gunner Class. He and his guild, the 'Twilight Brigade', wanted to unravel the secrets of The World.

To most of the 'players', The World was just an extremely in-depth detailed VR game, not realizing it was a world made of data but just as real as Earth. "you contacted me and only stated you'd give some answers. If you are willing to answer, what is The World? I can taste, smell, and feel things. There is pain, but not really." Ovan puzzled. "Oh, you noticed all that. Most 'Players' pay it no mind." Zane said with an unseen smirk. "Instead of answering that question myself, give me your answer to it." Zane said flipping the question on Ovan.

"It's too real to be 'just a game' but how would a world made of data exist in the first place." Ovan said, clearly have pondered this a while. "How is it so hard?" Zane asked. "Because of the energy and processing power needed is beyond anything on Earth." Ovan pointed out. "Who says it's on Earth?" Zane interjects. "You said it yourself. It's too real to be a game." Ovan looked at Zane with a great interest. "You aren't a 'Player', are you?" He finally asks. "I never said I was. Good luck decoding my world's secrets." Zane said, fading as he walked away.

"The Creator of The World is challenging us." Ovan stated, more amused than shocked. The World was marketed as a 'deep dive' VR game made by Laskaris Games. They were known for making games that were lifelike but not on this level. Years of data complied to creator a living data world with its own people and history. All because he stumbled upon this church. He stared as the statue of a girl in white with a clasp that looked like an infinity symbol. He had uncovered information from one of the inhabitants that called her Aura, daughter of the Creator. They adored and cherished her. They we're very touchy about some topics, like the name of the Creator. They had revealed what the words on the sword in the opening screen meant. The 'Key of the Twilight' was what had spared him on to form his guild and search of it for it was 'a guide to the truth' as legend called it.

An hour Later

The World

Twilight Brigade HOME (The guild space basically)

"Wait, you meet the Creator of The World and he all but stated it's not a game?" Sakisaka, the green garbed Steam Gunner, said, eyes wide behind the goggles of his onion helmet. "You said you were going to me a 'player' that had some answers." Sakisaka said as the goggles flashed symbols to express his annoyance and frustration. "But that's good news." Shino, a human Harvest Cleric, said with a smile. "Right, Haseo?" She asked the silver haired Adapt Rogue with red tattoos and facial markings. Haseo was the newest member of the guild and wasn't sure if he believed what Ovan told him, yet. "I'm not sure. We've been pulling teeth to get anything out of the inhabitants. Both literally and metaphorically." He says with a shudder, remembering the quest that had him killing demonic tooth monsters that were 'corrupting' a fleshy dungeon.

"It wasn't that bad. Sure, hearing the walls groan and rive in pain was off putting but soon as we killed the last tooth thing, it stopped." Tabby, a Lei Tribe (a tribe of beastkin, mostly feline) Tribal Grappler, said as she looked at her new set of rare cat paw weapons Shino gave her. "It was nauseating, and I am never looking at rotten teeth the same way ever again." Haseo deadpanned. "All we got from that Vital Vista (Steam powered robots with self-awareness and personalities) was that the Creator has 'facets' running around. Who knows if we'll ever find any of them?" The Guild Grunty (A pig like creature that takes on the appearance of the Guild Master) push up his tiny glasses and said, "It's easier than you think. You just need to request an audience with The Monk. Depending on the information you request the price will fluctuate."

"The old guy that helps 'players' is an aspect of the Creator? Why hasn't anyone figured that out yet?" Ovan asked. The Guild Grunty just shrugged "It's common knowledge but you 'Players' never ask the right questions. 'To reach the truth you must ask the right person the right questions', it's one of the many nuggets of wisdom the Creator of The World left us inhabitants." He said calmly. "So, this whole time we've been asking the wrong questions?" Sakisaka ground out. "Quite the opposite. You are asking the right questions, but you have a long way to go before the truth is in your grasp." The Guild Grunty corrected.

Ovan got a message from his little sister, Aina, a Shadow Warlock class 'Player', who had said she found something in [Delta Lonely Silent Great Seal]. "Aina found something and is on her way here momentarily." Ovan said as a blue haired girl in a gothic-Lolita dress entered. "Brother! I found The Creator's Room!" Aina said, hugging Ovan around the waist. She told them of the encounter.

Flashback

The Creator's Room

Aina found herself in an odd white room. With a rocking chair in the middle of the room. "Welcome, Truth Seeker." A man in a black cloak, Zane, said as he sat in the rocking chair. "What is this place?" Aina asked. "This is The Creator's Room, one of the rooms Aura grew up in. A safe place for the ultimate AI to take shape without worry of interruptions before she is stable." Zane said. "Big Brother Ovan will be so happy." Aina said happily. "I have so many questions." Zane smiled as she said this. "Is Aura your only Daughter? Do you have a wife? What is The World to you?" She fired off. "I have more children, you might have met them here, or you might not of." Zane shrugs. "I have a wife more beautiful than the Fae, that's my personal bias." He paused before answering the last question. "Continue to hunt for the truth of The World and you will truly understand what it is to me."

Zane gave her a pair of items called 'Bonds Beyond Distance', a pair of oval lockets that lacked chains. "share this with your brother and you can know where he is anywhere at any time." Zane said. "Thank you, Creator." Aina said, bowing and leaving to back to the Root Town she came from.

Flash back end

Aina traded Ovan one of the lockets and they appeared around their necks without warning. Ovan opened his and found photos of him and Aina in it. He checked his windows and the locket wasn't in his inventory or equipment page. The chain of the locket had no clasp and that was the what made him think it was more than just an item made of data. "Why did you ask those questions?" Haseo asked. "They seemed to be the most important. It's not like he would just tell me big secrets like the last question." Aina said annoyed. "Besides, I wanted to know if he was like the Greek gods." Aina mood brightens as she says, "And he's not unfaithful to his wife at all. And he loves his children." Ovan pats her head with a smile. "You asked the right questions. To understand the truth of a creation, you must understand the mind of its creator." Ovan said wisely. The Guild Grunty pipped in "Another nugget of wisdom from the Scrolls of the Creator."

Haseo, who recently got the job extend quest done, remembered the weird book he got along with the Edge Punisher form. Adapt Rogues were a class that started with one class, Haseo started with Twin blade, and could unlock more classes, letting them switch between weapons on the fly. "Guild Grunty, what's your name?" Haseo asked. "I am Rune Grunty. It took you long enough to ask." Rune Grunty fumed. "Can you despipher this text?" Haseo said taking the book out and showing Rune Grunty the cover.

"Here did you get this?" Rune Grunty asked, shocked. "From a quest a few days ago. This weirdo Blademaster with green skin was waiting for me at the end and gave me it after unlocking the Edge Punisher form." Haseo said. "This is a rare book that talks of the Lost Grounds. It was protected by the Three Azure Knights." Rune Grunty said. "You must have met one of the Descendants of Fianna, Orca of the Azure Sea." Ovan commented. "And the other is a white winged Blademaster called Balmung of the Azure Sky. Oddly their leader is a short Twin Blade in red, named Kite of the Azure Flame. That title is not is the Epitaph of the Twilight, but the inhabitants don't seem to care."

"Of Course, it doesn't matter! They honored warriors with an important task given to them." Rune Grunty said annoyed. "Too bad no one really knows what that task is. They are ether impossible to find or walking around The World, pretending to be like the rest of the 'players', for some reason."

a few hours later

The World

Delta Server

Mac Anu, Aqua City

Near the Chaos Gate, a blue orb with golden rings spinning around it, was a 'Information Shop', run by an old monk. "What can I do for you?" The Monk said looking at the group that consisted of Ovan, Tabby, Aina, and Haseo. "We are looking for the next 'step' to find the truth." Ovan said cryptically. The Monk laughed good natured. "I've been waiting for someone to ask that for many years. Come inside, Truth Seekers, this is not for just any ears." The Monk says as a door appears on a wall.

They entered a private room with a low table and cushions for seats. "Now let's see what we've go. A party of four different classes and an Adapt Rogue with two classes unlocked. Good, you got that requirement met." The Monk said as he pulled a scroll from the far wall. He blew the dust off as Haseo asked. "What requirements are you talking about?" The Monk unrolled the scroll and looked at it glanced at them then back to the scroll, repeatedly. "The Creator set requirements to some questlines to make sure only the right people complete them. In this case, a diverse group that includes someone like you." The Monk points his wrapped weapon at Haseo. "Of all the classes, Adapt Rogues are the most unpopular but can be the most dangerous one to fight if you devote enough time to mastering it."

Haseo got that. In 'The World', you didn't have too much system assistance to when it came to the finer details of fighting. You had to learn this through hard work. Adapt Rogues had to learn more than one class styles, that was one of the reasons it wasn't used much. "And what are the other requirements?" Haseo asked. "To have the right mindset. You do not PK for the fun of it nor do you shy away from combat. We've kept an eye of you and the other Truth Seekers. Those that are not apart of your guild but still will play a role, weather they know it yet or not." The Monk stated.

"What is the payment you require?" Shino asked. "There is no free lunch after all." The Monk laughed at the Greek proverb. "Very true. The payment will be doing jobs for me from now on until you pay off the debt that this will put you in." The Monk said showing them the monetary value. It was astronomical. "That is the price of the Truth of The World?" Ovan asked. "No, no, that is the price of getting the chance to find the truth. It's not cheap because you will be seeing the light and the dark of The World." The Monk corrected.

"Is 'The World' made of data?" Aina asked. "Yes. The Creator laid a seed and The World was born. I remember watching as the Hulle Granz Cathedral formed first." The Monk said smiling fondly at the memory. All of the 'Truth Seekers' got a quest notification at the same time. Each one was a different quest but they all would lead to the 'Truth' at some point. "Off you go." The Monk said as the door reappeared. They bowed and left. A humanoid purple cat with giant rabbit ears and wearing green armor entered from the shadows. "So, that's why Endrance got that quest. I can't wait to see how they fare when Father's Truth is before them." She said. "Mia, you know your role. Please do your job and not waste time hanging out with your boyfriend." The Monk said to blunt digital daughter of The Creator. "I can do both. I am one of Father's more powerful children." The Monk sighed. Mia was an inhabitant but was acting like a 'player' of the Blademaster class for the longest time. "Fine. Play your games. I have no idea what you cook up at times." The Monk said as she disappeared with a smirk.

Elsewhere

Delta Hidden Forbidden Dead Wood

Dead World of Indieglut Lugh

Endrance, a tall blue haired 'player' of the Blade Brandisher class wearing a purple outfit, sat at the waters' edge. The falling water droplets echoed loudly in the cave. He was staring at the glowing white tree. "Master En! I need your help!" A blonde Shadow Warlock 'Player' where a jester inspired outfit, said as she appeared. "Bo told me some weird quest appeared and I took control of our character to ask you." Saku, the 'sun' personality of Sakubo (Bo being the 'Moon' personality'), said.

"You got one too? Mia said she was going to ask someone what's going on." Endrance stated. "I'm back! The Truth Seeker Quest has finally begun." Mia said as she appeared from the shadows. "Oh, you must have gotten the guest too." Mia said noticing Sakubo. "What's going on! Bo doesn't have any idea why he got the quest." Saku demanded with a glare at the cat who she tolerated because she was dating 'Her Master En'. "Just the biggest event of The World since the war in the past." Mia said. "What war? The World isn't two decades old yet." Saku replied. "In normal time it is." Mia said. "What she means is that before the first 'players' came here, time was sped up. To the inhabitants it's been eons since it's creation. The war in the backstory happened after a fashion as did many of the other events. It's something Mia has alluded to in the past." Endrance explained.

"That is why I love you." Mia said. "Now tell me what the quest you got is, miss second personality." Saku bristled at their secret being aired like that. "It says 'The Path of The Machinator'." She said bitterly. "Oh! You are lucky as Endrance is. He got 'The Path of The Temptress' One of eight important Questlines that the Truth Seekers need to complete to find the Truth." Mia said smirking, knowing something they didn't. Endrance had an idea what his girlfriend really was but was waiting to voice it.

"The other paths are The Terror of Death, The Mirage of Deceit, The Propagation, The Prophet, The Avenger, and finally The Rebirth. What do those have in common?" Mia said. "Those are the titles of the Eyes of Morganna." Saku said. "What does the titles of programs have to do with anything?" Mia smirked. "You must have noticed it. That odd feeling you get when you log in. The one that feels like 'jet lag'." Mia said cryptically. Saku felt a creepy dread as Bo said to her mentally 'The World isn't a game. It's another world.' She started at Mia as she was notified that she completed the 'Eyes Opened' Quest. "You aren't a 'player' you are an inhabitant." She said. "Bingo! I am a digital entity who was born in The World. You humans are so lucky to be born with flesh and blood. I had to figure it out years ago." Mia said cheerfully.

It was completely possible to for Inhabitants of The World to materialize, like digimon can, but it required permission from The Creator aka Zane to do so. "I was right." Endrance stated with a smile. He knew there was more to her, but his questline had hidden quests to it that told him to unravel her secrets, those quests were hidden from her for some reason.

A few days later

The World

Raven Home

Serpent of Lore

"Any progress on your ends." Yata, a tan skinned buzz cut blonde haired Macabre Dancer class 'player' wearing a Buddhist inspired robe and glasses on his face. He fingered his weapon, a pair of folding fans. "That's the weird thing. We did the quests like you said and the latest said for us to meet you here." Kuhn, the blue pony tailed yellow garbed Steam Gunner said. Pi, the red scantily clad Tribal Grappler with pink hair into large pigtails, nodded and pushed up her glasses. "That's right, sir." She said. "I got that quest too." Yata admitted as the computer that looked like the world serpent eating its tail, the name sake of this room, behind him picked up something odd.

"Hello there." Zane said appearing while holding Seer Grunty, Raven's Guild Grunty who looked like Yata with wide rice hat on. "Don't attack him! He's the Creator!" Seer Grunty said as they drew their weapons. "That's right. The World is my creation and not for CyberConnection Corporation to make a profit on." Zane said as they flinched at the same time. Not long after The World was released, CC Corp had sent some 'players' into the 'game' to crack its code for CC Corp to copy. In six months, CC Corp was bought out by Laskaris Games and stripped down to bone and rebuilt as Electra Electronics.

"That would make you, Zane Laskaris, our boss." Kuhn said as Zane pulled his hood off. "And if you want to keep your jobs, you will keep walking the path that leads to the 'Truth' they wanted so badly." Zane warned as he set down Seer Grunty, pat him on the head and vanished. "Any idea why he let us off the hook so lightly because I'm confused?" Kuhn asked. "The Creator is willing to give second chances if he sees at least some part of you wants it." Seer Grunty said pushing up his glasses. They got the quest complete ding, twice. The second time was for completing 'Survive the boss without getting brown pants' quest. "He has a sense of humor." Yata comments amused. "Continue to monitor the 'Truth Seekers' as you do the questline. Be discrete if you can but if confronted, try to not make enemies of them." Yata ordered.

Two months later

The World

Sigma Hidden Forbidden Sin Realm

World of Sin Ran Hati

Haseo cut he way through enemies as he participated in the 'Forest of Pain' event. It promised great reward for those that survived the maze-like forest Lost Ground. He had information that the other 'players' didn't, Skeith was waiting for him. He had unlocked his third form, Flick Reaper, (The new black armor made him very feared as he PKed the PKers.) and had been waiting to face one of the Eyes in battle as the other Truth Seekers had. For some reason, eight 'players were chosen by the Eyes of Morganna and had the hardest quests thrown at them compared to the other Truth Seekers. Upside was that they got 'Lost Weapons', weapons with an eye motif and relating to one of the Eyes of Morganna, as one of the rewards.

He cleaved through a plant monster with Shadowy Death, a badass looking scythe with good stats. He soon found a stone as the BBS post about the event described. Soon as he touched it, he was taken somewhere else.

Testing Ground

He was in battlefield doted with ruins. Skeith, a humanish stone horned creature with an eye on its chest. It had a tall red wand floating near it. "You have come for the final step of this path." Death said as he landed. "You are the last to face their Eye. And the last Key to The Truth awaits you." Haseo sighed. The Key of the Twilight turned out to be something more than just an object. It was a title given to 'the Keys of The World', the master key to the system but with some limitation.

Skeith said nothing as Haseo launched himself with weapon bared. No matter what Haseo did Skeith took no damage, but fight was not about beating them. "You claim to hate PKers but weren't you one yourself, as the 'Player' Sora?" Death asked. Haseo gritted his teeth. The seven others had told him they had every secret dredged up in the duel with the Eyes, but he had no idea that would be the first thing brought up. Sora was a twin Blade class 'player' he made a few years ago and had indulged a little with, killing 'players' and stuff like that. Then Skeith appeared and 'Data Drained' him. His data was gone, and he had made his current one after taking a year to think why this happened.

Death spent a few more minutes poking and prodding all Haseo's buttons. "Just SHUT UP!" Haseo yelled, he was knocked away by Skeith's wand. "What's wrong? Didn't you want to reach the Truth?" Death asked. "You know what you must do. The key to passing in your inventory." Haseo had it. "Was it wrong to be a PKer? I was completely unaware of the Truth back then. It was just a game, and no one ever died." Haseo said, demanding answers. "It's not wrong to be a PKer in a game but this is not a game, there is rules and you broke them." Death said in a calm slow voice. "Accept who you are, and the Truth is open to you."

Haseo switched out his scythe for a pair of thin, long katars that extend and retract from wriest guards, Last Betrayel, the main weapon he PKed with. With a roar he stabbed Skeith but it was like the world shattered and he fell through the hole.

Aura's Room

Haseo stumbled as he looked around the room, he found himself in. There was a four-poster bed with silk bedding and curtains, stuffed animals everywhere, a rocking chair, and a shelf of books. "Welcome Truth Seeker." Aura said with a smile. She looked just as they described her. Haseo noticed he had a new white armor and was carrying two bladed guns. "where am I? And what happened to me." Haseo asked. "As reward for facing your past, you have been awarded with the Xth Form, of the Duel Gunner Class." Aura said, giving him three more pairs of guns. He wasn't a high enough level to use them, but it was the reward for the event. "You still didn't explain were we are?" Haseo said looking around. "This is my home. The Other Truth Seekers were greeted by my knights or one of Father's aspects when they completed their paths." Aura said with a smile that made Haseo relax. No matter how much he wanted to put up a cold front, Aura's smile and kind demeanor melted it away.

"Why am I different?" Haseo asked. "You remind me of Father. You go so far because your friends want to find the Truth. I can show you it now. The others with be seeing the same thing too. The Truth is best view alone then discussed with others afterwards." Aura offers a hand and Haseo takes it.

Memory of Creation

Haseo watched as Zane, floating in black void, holding a book with a giant seed made of data floating above it. "Are you sure this is wise?" The Monk asks. "I do this to leave a legacy that all my subjects can talk about with pride. From something taken I will give a gift of life to this empty void." Zane said as the seed dropped into the void and the Hulle Granz Cathedral appeared with the lake it sat on. Slowly the void was filled with locations of The World.

Memory end

Aura's Room

"The book was the source of Creation?" Haseo asked. "Stolen by a fallen angel turned Demon lord. Father wished to use it for good. Electra would be happy to know there was Truth Seekers at long last." Aura said "Electra? As in Electra Laskaris, daughter of Zane Laskaris and technical owner of Electra Electronics?" Haseo asked. "Father is kind to his family. When she returns from her journey, she promised to visit me." Aura said. "So, that's what we worked so hard to find? Zane decides that making a game isn't a good enough legacy. NO! He needs to be the best dad in the universe and made a whole world from data and make it evolve to the nth degree." Haseo said laughing at the crazy answer he got.

"Father isn't sane, but he is the best father I could ask for." Aura said. Zane popped in. "Hello there, Haseo, did you enjoy the Truth?" Zane asked. "You are the weirdest person I ever met. Question, did you threaten to cave Endrance's face in with a 'shovel sword' if he hurt his girlfriend?" Haseo asked. "Father got more protective after Sakura got stalked by 'unsavory piles of pond scum', as Father described. So, he got the 'ANSWER' to deal with threats to his family." Aura explained. "Humans are so odd." She said with a puzzled expression. Zane pats her head saying, "You have much to learn daughter of mine." He turns to Haseo and says, "Thank you for helping deal with the PKers."

A Week later

Remnant

Island of Patch

"Who requires the services of the Great Demon Lord, Daemon?" Zane said in Daemon (Cloaked) mode. "It worked! Ruby's demon summoning circle worked!" Yang said in disbelief. Zane groaned. He had dabbled in Contract magic and as a result anyone could summon him and make a deal. More deals he made over the years, bigger deals he could make. Add in time travel and Daemon encouraging him to make it a full-time job, resulted in him being one of the most reliable 'Deal Makers' to summon.

"Look. Just because 6-year-old Ruby, in her infinity wisdom, summoned me to 'make Zwei a super dog' doesn't mean you can just summon me on whim." Zane said. "I know that. I'm going to be joining Beacon this year and want to do something special for her." Yang said, brushing her hair out of the way and rolling her eyes.

Zane stepped out of the poorly drew circle, much to her surprise, and looked it critically. "You are lucky it's me you got. Other Deal Makers aren't as nice as I am." Zane commented. "What kind of 'surprise' do you want for your half-sister?" Yang huffs annoyed. "I was hoping for a magical item that will give her a leg up if she loses her weapon or faces something that is a walking mountain." Yang says "She doesn't have magic or semblance that makes her hit harder. Sure, she can use a gravity round to hit faster." Yang rambled.

Remnant had changed from what it could have been, mainly because the Dark bother didn't kill off magic and the moon was still whole. Instead of Dust being found, the Brother Gods signed a deal with Zane to make 'crystallized magic stones' in its place to see how it would affect humanity's future. Zane also 'created' Faunus and unlocked aura in people as a result of a deal. The Deal Maker was so entrenched in the culture that he was viewed as a being only topped by the Brother Gods in importance.

"Right. So instead of going to a mortal craftsman or even the Brother Gods, you summon The Deal Maker, who is the boss of every other deal maker that you could call on this marble you call home." Zane said in a deadpan. "See! You get my thought process. The Brother Gods' alters are too far away and you aren't as stringy as your employees." Yang said with smile. Zane felt a headache coming on as an alive and healthy Summer Rose opened the door and demanded "Yang Xiao Long! What have I told you about summon Deal Makers?" She had that glare only a disappointed mother could give their kid.

"It's good to see you still alive, Summer." Zane greeted. Summer sagged in relief. "It's good to see you again, Zane. Please don't ask for an arm or her soul as payment." She said. "Given what she wants, half her hair will do." Zane said. Yang was torn, she loved her hair, but it was for her baby sister. "It can grow back, right?" Yang asked. "Of Course, it will. It's the act of giving up half your hair for your family that is the payment." Zane explained. Yang signed the contract and cut her hair. Zane too the payment and gave her a charm, about the size of a silver dollar. "This is the Thorns of Agony charm. If the wearer is harmed, the attacker gets hit with thorns, dealing some damage." Zane said as Yang looked at the thorny vine ball look of the charm.

"So, she wears this, and it will harm the attackers with thorns? Is it because she has a rose petal semblance?" Yang asked. "Because it's a little on the nose." Zane rolled his eyes. "You asked for a magical item for Ruby, I gave you one she'd like. Be happy you got a Charm. I've been working on recreating them for years." Zane pauses as he feels another summon. "I got another summoner calling." Zane says as he lets the call pull him.

Elsewhere

Somewhere in Vale city Warehouse district

Zane said his intro and waited for Cinder Fall, of all people, to make her request. "I want power." She started to say but Zane cut in. "Hold it! Be more specific or you'll regret it." Mercury Black, who was off to the side, was snickering. "He's not lying. My old man made that request and he got power, so much that he exploded. That's why I lost my legs." He pats in prosthetic legs from the knee down. "Wasn't your father a 'nominee for Worst Father of the Year' according to you?" The mint haired dark skinned, Emerald Sustrai, snarked. "Yeah but our boss is making a deal with The Deal Maker. It's like asking the Grim Reaper for an extension on your life. I heard they know each other." Mercury said. Zane laughed internal at this comment. To the people of Remnant, he was three major figures of legend, the third being the Blood-Stained Knight.

The Blood-Stained Knight was the reason why this Remnant's Great War didn't end with everyone dead. There was a lot of broken bones, but the armies were stopped, and peace restored. He was still angry that it started over the ethnics of Faunus slavery. When Zane entered the last major battle, it became clear that death was less painful than the blows he gave out as the pro-slavery armies were unable to grip their weapons or even stand anymore. What history said was that the King of Vale had summoned the Deal Maker and asked for a way to end the war. What he got was a monster of warrior that stopped the war without any more lives lost needlessly.

"What would you suggest then?" Cinder asked. "What are your goals?" Zane asked. "You don't need to know." Cinder says as the ginger-haired thief, Torchwick and his silent friend, Neapolitan came into the warehouse with a few crates of magic stones in tow. "She wants to become more powerful than the royal families." Torchwick says taking a drag of his cigar. "No idea why but she's paying me to steal stuff for her 'Grand Plan'." Cinder glares as the thief told Zane what he knew. Neo smirks and flipped her tri colors hair.

"Right, that is vague as her first request." Zane says, "How much are you willing to give up for this 'power'?" Cinder, without hesitation, said "If I have to give up an eye, I will." Zane knew just what to give her. "In exchange for your eye I will give you a fallower who will listen without question." Zane says presenting the contract. She smirks and signs. Like a viper, Zane's claw rips her right out of the socket. Flames swirled on the floor and Zane threw the eye into it. From the flames, an elemental of molten rock and metal pulled itself and bowed to Cinder, who was screaming in pain. The empty socket was burning as the connection was forged. "Enjoy." Zane said vanishing.

Ten minutes later

Cinder learned heavily on a wall, panting in pain. "That's what you get for making a vague request." Torchwick said Cinder glared, her right socket filled by a molten orb. "So does the new eye do anything?" Torchwick asked. "I can only see everything the elemental servant sees." Cinder said testily. It felt like her blood was lava soon as she signed her name. She didn't realize how painful it would be. "That's why I didn't ask to regrow my legs." Mercury stated. "And what did you ask for?" Torchwick asked. "the ability to walk under my own power. Had to give up my broken legs permanently, but it was better than bleeding to death." Mercury lifted his pant legs to reveal very life like metal prosthetics fused to his flesh. "state of art to the point that I can feet sand like it was flesh and blood legs. They even grow like flesh legs do." He bragged.

"So, you traded shattered limbs for metal versions?" Cinder asked, "Was it painful?" Mercury laughed "like there was lava in my veins. But I didn't have much choice at the time." He stated. "You show see what happens to those that ask of 'power' rudely. They get screwed over royally." Mercury laughs sadistically. "I'm betting that Jacques Schnee got added to the list with his 'unfortunate death' a few days ago."

"And what gave you that idea?" Emerald asked. "he died inspecting a mine when the floor caved into the motherlode of Magic Stone crystal deposits." She stated bring up the article on her Scroll (it's like an iphone). "Out of all the people there, only the overseer and him died. The overseer was a racist and Jacques is known for using anyone and everyone for his own gain. None of the Faunus workers fell in, somehow, despite being the ones that caused the hole to form." Mercury pointed out. "That sounds like a monkey paw wish outcome to me." Torchwick said. "the question is, did the CEO make the deal or did someone else? My money is on his son Whitley, based on the horrified look on his face." They look at the faces of the family on the article and noticed he was right. The male hair had a face of horror and gilt, much worse than the others family members' sad faces.

"where did the second daughter get that scar? She didn't have that in her performance at last years Ball they held." Torchwick asked after Neo pointed it out. "Oh that? Dear old daddy made her fight an Arma Gigas Grimm to try and stop her from being a huntress. She beat it but got that scar on her eye. You should have heard her latest song that roasted him and his view on people." Mercury said.

A few days later

Kingdom of Mantle

Atlas Capital

Schnee mansion

"Well, a new customer and a royal one at that." Zane said as the Royal Magictech army (RMA) of Atlas pointed their weapons at him. King Ironwood, Zane had no idea how that happened, but it did, looked as he did in cannon. "Did you kill Jacques Schnee, Demon?" He demanded calm yet with steel. "He's dead? His son wanted to inherit the CEO job, so I gave dear old daddy a little misfortune." Zane said and started to leaf through a ledger. "We are aware of that deal." General Winter Schnee of the RMA stated curtly. "AH! Here's the problem. One Adem Taurus requested the overseer that branded him to suffer a mining related death." Zane said. "That would explain was happened. It was purely bad luck Father was near the Overseer in question." Winter stated and signaled for them to lower their weapons.

"Now that the interrogation is over, we can get to deal making." Zane said, "Ask for anything that doesn't break the Rules of Life and Death, or my rules, and it's yours for a price." Willow Schnee, current head of the family because her son getting jail time, stepped forward. "how can you act to calm! Your deals killed people!" She demanded. "Yes, and I warned every customer that might happen. Contract magic, like all 'Deal Making Magic' has a touch of danger to it." Zane said showing them two figures signing a Geis. One of the figures dies suddenly as Zane says, "In the case of Geis, death is the most common thing when you break the agreement."

"He was a terrible human, but I loved him, a little." Willow said in a pained tone. "love can be blind, and it can even harm you. But what is living if there isn't something that makes the good parts better?" Zane said. He took something from Willow "I'm taking your dependency to drink away your problems for that nugget of wisdom." He said holding an orb of 'weakness' that smell like booze. "Would you be willing to help my friend Ozpin? He's the king of Vale and Headmaster of Beacon." Ironwood asked.

"Maybe if you are willing to pay for me to do it. I already taught at a school for four years and it was annoying with all the chaos that happened." Zane said. "Name your price." Ironwood said. "hmmm, you are half magitech already so no body parts." Zane mutters then gets an idea. "Make me an identity so I can teach without them demanding deals from me without going through the proper channels." He indicates the circle he was standing in. He hands the contract and the information Ironwood needed for his 'ID' and history. "It will be filed in the week." Ironwood says signing.

A few days later

Vale

Beacon Academy

Headmaster's office

"You made a deal with The Deal Maker to let him teach my students?" Ozpin asked Ironwood over the coms. "I had to make some deal. That's one of his rules." Ironwood defended himself. "He caused a double murder and was the only one that knew why it happened. Every person, human or faunus deserves justice, no matter how vile they are." Ozpin sighed. "that is true, my friend, but why teach?" Ozpin asked. "I don't know why he picked that. I was hoping for him to beef up security or something. I have no idea what he's planning."

Ozpin looked at the 'fake name' on the profile of the new magical history teacher. "Are you aware that I met an 'Electra Laskaris' at the Domain of Light. She had left with a fresh soul. When I questioned where she got it, she said she first visited the Land of Darkness before coming to visit the Domain of Light." Ozpin asked. "Are you saying that that The Deal Maker has a daughter?" Ironwood asked shocked. "What I'm saying is that, this 'Electra' has a connection to him and is a very gifted Shaman if she got a fresh soul from the Brother Gods." Ozpin stated. "I will keep a close eye on him. Keep in touch." Ozpin ended the call as the elevator dinged and Zane Laskaris walked in with Glynda.

"Dr. Laskaris, your resume is impressive. Why should I hire you?" Ozpin asked. "Because I wish to fill in a gap in your teaching." Zane said. "And what gap is that?" Ozpin said with an arched brow as Glynda looked annoyed. "The Role of the Deal Maker in history and how his rules work. It's glossed over and it's just begging for a disaster to happen because some fool blunders a deal with him." Zane states with brief smirk only Ozpin caught. "You're hired. The next Semester starts in a month. You may go." Ozpin stated. Glynda stayed behind.

"Wait did you hire him? It's like inviting a beast into your own home, hoping he isn't hungry." She said heatedly. "It is better to keep him where we can watch him, than somewhere else, planning something with us in the dark." Ozpin said looking for a photo. "Look at this photo and tell me what you see?" She takes the photo. "It's that young Shaman, Electra." Her eyes narrow as she takes the file on the newest teacher. "She looks like him, his child or maybe a descendant." She says. "If Summer's information is right, his 'fake name' is in fact one of his 'real' names, just as 'Daemon' is." Ozpin says. "We may get answers to what happened in the past. Another race of humans doesn't just pop out of nowhere."

A month later

Beacon Academy

Magical History Class

"welcome to Magical History Class." Zane said as he waited for Dr. Oobleck to pass out textbooks at his hyper normal speeds. "Ether Dr. Oobleck or I, Dr. Laskaris, was be teaching about the history of the world and all magical and mundane things that have happened because of those events." He stated as Ruby and Yang sat silent with wide eyes. "Team RWBY, please stay after class so we can discuss your leader's two years of lessons she skipped." Zane ordered. Most of the students snickered at them being called out on the first day. Ruby was hiding under her hood, face beet red with shame. "I wouldn't laugh if I were you." Dr. Oobleck said drinking his coffee thermos/flamethrower. "It is a sign of talent to get into Beacon two years early."

After class ended

"You girls are aware of why I really asked you to stay behind." Zane stated. "Because you are the Deal Maker and don't want us to blab?" Blake, who was not hiding her Faunus trait, Black cat ears, under a bow, guessed. Weiss was the only one out of the loop. "What? But why would you teach here? Don't you have better things to do, like causing more deaths?" She said bitterly. "Blame Adam Taurus and your brother's requests for your Father's death. When misfortune curses go near 'Death' curses, it ends badly for both parties." Zane said. "Adam did what?" Blake asked cat ears flat with fear.

"Traded me his luck for 12 hours to make sure someone he hated died." Zane said. "He stubbed his toe, tripped on a tree root, burnt his food, and got pelted with nuts by wildlife for the time frame." He looked at Blake as he said this. "As for why I'm teaching, to get you kids to stop summoning me for random ideas, miss demon summoner at age 6." He glares at Ruby. "I said I was sorry." She squeaks. Weiss looked ready to say something Ruby's lack leadership skills. "That is why I will make sure you become the finest leader you can be." Ruby wasn't sure what to say so she hugged him.

"You're the best Uncle Zane!" She mumbled into his shirt. "Adopted into another family. Lucky me." Zane chuckled. "Here's passes for your next class" He says, and they leave. "You should ask Ozpin if you can teach a Leader only class. It may help the other student leaders at the same time." Dr. Oobleck suggested as he cleaned his glasses. "That's a great idea. I'll ask him at the weekly meeting." Zane said. "Tell me, is your name any relation to the 'Laskaris' that forged the weapons Mr. Arc is wielding?" Dr. Oobleck asked. "If it is the blade used during the war, then yes, it is. Sometimes it requires a 'human' touch fulfill my end of the deal. I have a lot of faces and names to draw on but this one is my preferred human look." Zane told him.

"Fascinating. That explains your ability to deliver on what you promise. Are you aware there is mentions of a Primordial Mother Goddess that might have 'inspired' the Brother Gods?" Dr. Oobleck asked. Zane choked on his coffee briefly. "Who told you about Tiamat?" Zane asked. "A young Shaman by the name of Electra. I met her in downtown Vale, and she told me about The Primordial Sea that could create life. Too made Tiamat never came to this planet, I'd love to meet her." Zane laughed a little. "you wouldn't be able to understand her. She doesn't have a vocabulary, really. But she is one of the best mothers you could meet." Zane said, remembering how she would greet you with a hug if you let her.

"Maybe one day we will find a way to travel among the stars." Dr. Oobleck says.

A month later

Beacon

Zane's Office

"Jaune Arc, homeschooled enough to just barely get into Beacon by the skin of your teeth." Zane said. Jaune, the leader of team JNPR, sat looking nerves. "I know I'm falling behind a little, but I know I can improve if you give me more time." He said nervously, hoping he wasn't going to be expelled. "Who thought you to fight?" Zane asked. "You wouldn't believe me." Jaune said. "Try me." Zane challenged. "The Blood-Stained Knight. I made a deal with The Deal Maker to be a hero like the rest of the family. I don't have talent for spells." Jaune said. Zane snorted. "the rest of your team can come in." Zane said as Nora, Pyrrha and Ren fall in when the door opened on its own. "One, you can use magic. You are the best White Mage classed student in this school I've met. Sure, the only thing you can kill with magic is undead and 'evil' things, but you can heal wounds and even prevent harm." Zane stated.

"Besides, you signed this contract and I aim to uphold it." Zane holds up Jaune's contract. "See Ren, I knew he was The Deal Maker! Who else would memorize all those rules?" Nora, the orange haired master of whack-a-mole, said. "Yes, I am he. And I also made that weapon you carry, Jaune. May I see it?" Zane asked. Jaune handed over Crocea Mors (It's the current version, not the volume one version). Zane unsheathed it and cradled it gently. "Looks like the Arc's didn't do as I said. This is a weapon, not a thing to hang on the wall and forget about for generations." Zane grumbled and the sword shivered. "You made him steal you off the wall? You must have really wanted to be used, my dear." Zane told that sword.

"Sir, why are you talking to the sword? And how did you know he stole it?" Pyrrha asked. "I made this weapon for Jaune's Great-Great Grandfather. One of my better creations as a blacksmith. Nothing to crazy, made it unbreakable and added a two-handed mode to it among other things but I guess no one even figured them out yet." Zane sheathes it and two edges appear and slide up a little. "I had no idea it could do that?" Jaune said. Zane laughs as the sword shivers. "Give me a few days and I'll show you how to really use her. She's can repel things with a blast of gravity and be used to make a barrier of magic. I know you can put them to good use." He returns it to default mode and gives the weapon back.

"How is our fearless leader doing besides is fighting?" Nora asked. "He's acing everything else. Only his lack of training is what's limiting him. Great leader but needs help applying it to real life. Why do you think I started the Leadership classes?" Ren answered this "to make sure the Teams are led by good leaders after they become full Huntsman and Huntresses?" Zane smiled. "Exactly! Prince Oscar is heir to the throne, even if he is Ozpin's grandson and only the heir because he's the closest living member still alive. So, he is required to take the classes too." Zane stated.

"What's the prince like?" Nora asked. "He grew up on a farm in Mistral and never wanted to be the Heir." Jaune said. He and Ruby had gotten to know young Oscar and come to be tentative friends with him. "I've said what I needed to say, and you have classes in the morning. Get enough rest." Zane dismissed them.

five months later

Beacon

Magical History Class

"Today's topic is one that I've been saving for some time. The origin of the Faunus Race." Zane said. Velvet Scarlatina, a brown hair rabbit Faunus with a love for photography, perked up, as did her team leader Coco Adel, fashionista and leader of team CFVY. Blake knew this was coming and was ready to take notes. "You are all aware of how 'unspecified wishes' can be fulfilled in 'weird' ways." Zane said and Coco raised her hand. Zane nodded at her and she asked, "Are you implying that The Deal Maker created the Faunus?" Zane knew she didn't believe him, so he had them turn to a page in the textbook.

"On this page you will see the interview that was conducted with The Deal Maker. He was asked by a tribe of hunters to 'make them. and their descendants, better hunters' with really telling him how to do it. He did so by granting them animal traits and that makes Faunas better than humans in some regards." (Note: this is not cannon to the show as far as I know) There were some that scoff that is information, too wrapped up in their bias to care.

Weiss raised her hand and when she was called on, she asked, no demanded, "Are you saying the ruffians of the White Fang are right about being better than Humans as a whole?" Zane laughed, hard. "That misguided bunch of protesters turned violent, are still human. So, no they aren't completely right to call themselves 'superior to humans' but they have a few good points. They are being looked down on even today. That is one of the reasons I've chose to teach all of you." Zane said.

"And I, for one, am glad you are finally telling the humans that information." Sienna Khan, the dark-skinned tiger ear and striped Faunus leader of the White Fang, said as she walked into the room, clapping slowly. "I find your description of us a little rude, but you are just a human." She said not caring that she was insulting almost everyone in the room. "Why are you here?" Weiss demanded. "I was invited by Dr. Laskaris. I apologize for any grief Adam Taurus caused your family in his quest for revenge." She said sincerely. "But his chapter of the White Fang is not the whole group and request you not call bunch rotten because a few bad apples get mixed in." Sienna said as she stood next to Zane.

"Your parents want you to call them, Blake." Sienna tells Blake who was pale as a ghost. Zane got a call and the whole school felt his anger swell up. "Someone stole WHAT!" He reined in his anger as he packed up his stuff. "I am sorry to say but this will be the last week of class. I planned for it, but some entitled brat broke into one of my properties and stole a spice blend record, one of the publicly sold blends, but you get why I am a little angry." Zane said as they were petrified. "May the gods have mercy on their soul because this monster is fresh out of it." Sienna muttered.

A week later

Food Earth (Shokugeki no Sōma based world. I'm also putting it as the earth that the Western Restaurant Nekoya is for reasons later)

Tokyo, Japan

Totsuki Saryo Culinary Institute

Front gate

Zane walked up to the gate of the massive cooking academy sitting on the mountain, which was also owned by the school. Zane remembered this place well. He came to this world to find where that magical restaurant was and heard about this 'school'. He enrolled and in four years he made the name of Laskaris a household name. People around him were speed walking away from the aura of dread coming off him as he walked in without even giving his name to the security, who were too afraid to stop him.

 **Author's Note: I'm going to leave it here before it gets too long. Like a Dragon, he guards his cooking secrets with a vengeance.**


End file.
